YA(very silly)SD Marco Polo the NaWa

[crow]

I cannot for the life of me figure out how to reset my permissions in order to change the travel delay in the init.txt file. So when I push a directional button too hard sometimes the screen freezes, goes black for a sec, and then comes back with my guy magically having arrived at the destination.

Smack dab in the middle of a herd of death yaks, and stone cold dead. Too bad, too. This guy was tons of fun. I LOVE THE SWORD OF THE DOOM KNIGHT. Omg.

  Code:

Message History

The death yak bellows!
The death yak gores you! The death yak closely misses you.
You slash the plant!
The plant is lightly damaged.
The death yak gores you!
You hit the plant.
The plant is lightly damaged.
You hit the plant.
The plant is lightly damaged.
The death yak misses you.
The death yak gores you!
You hit the death yak, but do no damage.
The death yak gores you!
* * * LOW HITPOINT WARNING * * *
The death yak gores you!
* * * LOW HITPOINT WARNING * * *
You hit the death yak. The death yak is poisoned.
The death yak is lightly wounded.
The death yak gores you!
You die...

I coulda totally taken 'em, too. lol

  Code:

 Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.9.1 character file.

49852 Marco Polo the Carver (level 14, -9/123 (126) HPs)
             Began as a Naga Wanderer on Nov 6, 2011.
             Was an Elder of Okawaru.
             Mangled by a death yak (18 damage)
             ... on Level 7 of the Lair of Beasts on Nov 8, 2011.
             The game lasted 03:40:16 (32156 turns).

Marco Polo the Carver (Naga Wanderer)                                                  Turns: 32156, Time: 03:40:16

HP  -9/123 (126) AC 14     Str 20      XL: 14   Next: 36%
MP  28/28        EV 21     Int 16      God: Okawaru [****..]
Gold 1202        SH  0     Dex 15      Spells:  6 memorised, 12 levels left

Res.Fire  : + . .   See Invis. : +    f - +4,+3 long sword of Extremism {venom, rN+
Res.Cold  : + . .   Warding    : + .  m - +3 leather armour of Fun {Str+4 Dex+1}
Life Prot.: + + .   Conserve   : .    (no shield)
Res.Acid. : . . .   Res.Corr.  : .    k - +0 helmet of Quantum Leap {rC+}
Res.Poison: +       Clarity    : .    b - +0 cloak {rPois} {god gift}
Res.Elec. : .       Spirit.Shd : .    n - +1 pair of gauntlets
Sust.Abil.: . .     Stasis     : .    (no barding)
Res.Mut.  : .       Ctrl.Telep.: .    W - amulet of warding
Res.Rott. : .       Levitation : .    y - ring of Shaolin {EV+8}
Saprovore : . . .   Ctrl.Flight: .    g - ring of protection from fire

@: very slow, quite resistant to hostile enchantments, very stealthy
A: spit poison, see invisible, deformed body 1, poison resistance, slowness 2
a: Spit Poison, Heroism, Renounce Religion


You were on level 7 of the Lair of Beasts.
You worshipped Okawaru.
Okawaru was extremely pleased with you.
You were not hungry.

You visited 2 branches of the dungeon, and saw 21 of its levels.
You visited 1 Labyrinth.

You collected 1246 gold pieces.
You spent 94 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 a - a +3,+2 crossbow
 f - the +4,+3 long sword of Extremism (weapon) {venom, rN+ Dex+3}
   (You found it on level 11 of the Dungeon)   
   
   It poisons the flesh of those it strikes.
   
   
   It affects your dexterity (+3).
   It protects you from negative energy.
 r - a +3,+2 flail
 A - a +2,+2 sling
 C - the +13,+13 sword of the Doom Knight {pain, -CAST MR}
   (You found it on level 9 of the Dungeon)   
   
   In the hands of one skilled in necromantic magic, it inflicts extra damage
   on living creatures.
   
   
   It increases your resistance to enchantments.
   It prevents spellcasting.
 D - a +0 blowgun
 K - the +8,+5 flail "Concordance" {flame, Str+3 Dex+3}
   (You found it on level 7 of the Lair of Beasts)   
   
   It emits flame when wielded, causing extra injury to most foes and up to
   double damage against particularly susceptible opponents.
   
   
   It affects your strength (+3).
   It affects your dexterity (+3).
 R - the +7,+2 great sword of Uphon {god gift, drain, +Inv rPois rF++ Dex+3}
   (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 5 of the Lair of Beasts)   
   
   A truly terrible weapon, it drains the life of those it strikes.
   
   
   It affects your dexterity (+3).
   It greatly protects you from fire.
   It protects you from poison.
   It lets you turn invisible.
Missiles
 c - 6 +1 bolts
 h - 2 +0 needles of confusion
 j - 24 +1 sling bullets
 l - 15 +0 bolts of penetration
 F - 21 poisoned +2 bolts
 H - 16 +0 sling bullets of frost
 N - 21 poisoned +3 sling bullets
 P - 4 curare-tipped +1 needles
 V - 12 +1 bolts of flame
Armour
 b - a +0 cloak of poison resistance (worn) {god gift}
 k - the +0 helmet of Quantum Leap (worn) {rC+}
   (You acquired it on level 2 of the Lair of Beasts)   
   
   
   It protects you from cold.
 m - the +3 leather armour of Fun (worn) {Str+4 Dex+1}
   (You found it on level 5 of the Lair of Beasts)   
   
   
   It affects your strength (+4).
   It affects your dexterity (+1).
 n - a +1 pair of gauntlets (worn)
Magical devices
 e - a wand of confusion (7)
 p - a wand of teleportation (6)
 s - a wand of paralysis (8)
 v - a wand of fire (3)
 z - a wand of enslavement (12)
 G - a wand of fireball (4)
 M - a wand of teleportation (7)
 Q - a wand of lightning (5)
Comestibles
 u - 5 meat rations
Scrolls
 d - a scroll of teleportation
 i - 2 scrolls of detect curse
 B - 6 scrolls of remove curse
 L - a scroll of amnesia
 T - 4 scrolls of identify
Jewellery
 g - a ring of protection from fire (left hand)
 y - the ring of Shaolin (right hand) {EV+8}
   (You found it on level 12 of the Dungeon)   
   
   [ring of evasion]
   It affects your evasion (+8).
 I - an uncursed ring of wizardry
 S - an uncursed ring of teleportation
 W - an amulet of warding (around neck)
 X - a +4,+2 ring of slaying
Potions
 o - 7 potions of healing
 q - 7 potions of poison
 t - 2 potions of heal wounds
 w - a potion of slowing
 x - 4 potions of water
 E - 2 potions of speed
 J - 4 potions of strong poison
 O - a potion of might {unknown}
 U - 3 potions of confusion
Miscellaneous
 Y - a box of beasts


   Skills:
 * Level 11 Fighting
 - Level 2 Short Blades
 + Level 14 Long Blades
 * Level 3 Maces & Flails
 - Level 1 Slings
 * Level 7 Crossbows
 - Level 1 Throwing
 + Level 5 Armour
 - Level 7 Dodging
 + Level 9 Stealth
 + Level 1 Stabbing
 + Level 1 Traps & Doors
 + Level 1 Unarmed Combat
 * Level 8 Spellcasting
 * Level 3 Conjurations
 + Level 7 Necromancy
 + Level 3 Transmutations
 + Level 2 Fire Magic
 + Level 1 Air Magic
 + Level 5 Poison Magic
 + Level 4 Invocations
 + Level 4 Evocations


You had 12 spell levels left.
You knew the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Success   Level  Hunger
a - Fulsome Distillation  Trmt/Necr      N/A          Excellent   1    None
b - Evaporate             Fire/Trmt      ###.......   Great       2    None
c - Spider Form           Pois/Trmt      ####......   Great       3    Strawberry
d - Alistair's Intoxicat  Pois/Trmt      N/A          Good        4    Honeycomb
e - Dispel Undead         Necr           #####....    Great       4    Honeycomb
f - Mephitic Cloud        Pois/Air/Conj  ####......   Very Good   3    Strawberry


Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (13/27)            Temple (0/1) D:5            Lair (8/8) D:13
  Swamp (0/5) Lair:3        Slime (0/6) Lair:6        Snake (0/5) Lair:3
   Orc: D:6-11        Hive: D:11-16     

Altars:
Ashenzari
Elyvilon
Fedhas
Nemelex Xobeh
Okawaru
The Shining One
Trog
Vehumet
Xom

Shops:
D:7: (([[  D:9: *  D:10: *


                    Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations

You cannot wear boots.
You can spit poison.
Your serpentine skin is tough (AC +4).
You have supernaturally acute eyesight.
Armour fits poorly on your unusually shaped body.
Your system is resistant to poisons.
You cover ground very slowly.


Message History

The death yak bellows!
The death yak gores you! The death yak closely misses you.
You slash the plant!
The plant is lightly damaged.
The death yak gores you!
You hit the plant.
The plant is lightly damaged.
You hit the plant.
The plant is lightly damaged.
The death yak misses you.
The death yak gores you!
You hit the death yak, but do no damage.
The death yak gores you!
* * * LOW HITPOINT WARNING * * *
The death yak gores you!
* * * LOW HITPOINT WARNING * * *
You hit the death yak. The death yak is poisoned.
The death yak is lightly wounded.
The death yak gores you!
You die...


That cloak of rpois was one of only two items ever gifted to me this game by Okawaru, and my only cloak. That bastard was cheap as hell this game. I only worshipped his ass for some naga barding. (he musta known I would leave him once I got it)

I have a couple questions. Right before I died I noticed my piety dropped down to four pips instead of five. I never really used heroism or finesse (one time with a hydra), and it's the lair, so I didn't stop killing things, and it had been at five for some time. I'm wondering what might've cause such a relatively quick seeming piety loss. Does Oka somehow disapprove of summoning small abominations?

Also I wanted to ask a bit about skill viability. I often make the mistake, I think, of wanting a character to do too much, too soon. I'm a hybrid addict, (which is funny since my only win is with a KoBe.) I want them off the ground as soon as possible. Should I delay the gratification and specialize more, until higher lvl where there's more experience available to train new skillz? Or is it possible to make a -successful- armored caster earlier than seventeenth lvl?

[Galefury]

Oka disapproves of letting allies die. So if those small aboms you summoned died, that would cause some piety loss. Also gift timeout will slow your piety gain considerably, so you will notice any piety loss for a long time. Also Nagas move slow, so piety decay is a little more noticeable (not completely sure about this part).

Your skills really are very spread out. You should specialize more. I like to train fighting only at higher levels now that it's so easy to train, but that's really a matter of taste. Also having more than one melee weapon skill is usually a waste of exp. Having both crossbows and conjurations is usually not necessary. Usually you should also pick either dodging or armour, at least early on. In leather armor you should probably train dodging.

On a hybrid I like to focus on one or two specific ways of offense early (weapon + spellcasting + one spell school for example), with just enough utility and defense mixed in to survive if things go wrong. In the midgame I get my defenses up (shield, fighting, T&D) and often focus on utility spells or alternate types of offense.

[crow]

I'm gonna try your ideas on skills. Thank you for the advice.

Do you find you don't notice the lower hp on a char that doesn't train fighting?

[Galefury]

I find that killing faster will often help me survive better than 10% or even 20% more HP would. Of course there are limits to this approach, but early on getting your weapon to min delay and your key spells castable tends to help a lot more than a few more HP. At least that's my experience, others may disagree.

[crow]

At the very least it sounds worth testing out.

[rchandra]

If you want to make an armoured caster, I think Ashenzari is your god. You'll get boosts to both armour and your assorted magic skills to help compensate for the armour penalties.

[crow]

I've read about this. I only recently switched to .9 from .6, so I've never used Ashenzari before. how does the whole 'staying cursed ALL the time' play out when you need jewelry or weapons on hot swap for elemental damage or resistance?

[rchandra]

I've read about this. I only recently switched to .9 from .6, so I've never used Ashenzari before. how does the whole 'staying cursed ALL the time' play out when you need jewelry or weapons on hot swap for elemental damage or resistance?

I'm not an expert, but I have played Ashenzari a decent amount to the midgame. The short answer is, you can't hotswap much. if you don't keep your weapon cursed, it might not be as big a deal, but each bound category increases your skill bonuses amount so you do want it if possible, and that's an easy category to get bound.
Don't curse your gauntlet until your rings are really awesome, don't curse your cloak until your body armour is awesome. You can still get armour bound with body/hat/boots.
With jewellery, you can curse the amulet and one ring to get some benefits with some swapping capability. Note that if jewellery is not bound you won't get the magic skills boost, so you do need 2 of 3 slots, and 3 of 3 will boost further.

In general you can't change your equipment often (curse armour in particular is often in short supply), so wait until you have a few clear upgrades before using remove curse and re-cursing things. And remember that remove curse removes any number of curses but not all as an Ashenzari worshipper (choose each item, esc when done).
Acquirement should probably be on armour or jewellery.

[crow]

Expert or not that was very thorough.

It occurs to me that curse armor would be great for a naga, since I only ever seem to find one naga barding per game anyway. (if that)