Closest shave ever

[September_Blue]

Best character I've ever played, a clvl 43 Dunadan Paladin, is currently hovering around 4000' searching for artifacts. Two of her equipment choices aggravate monsters, which is annoying, but hey - she has 935HP and she's at 35 speed! What's going to hurt her, right?

Ha.

Last trip down to the dungeon left her in a room with a bunch of multi-hued hounds right next to her (ugh) and a light-blue U in a corridor below. A randart sword I'm carrying around as a swap activates for Banishment, so bye-bye hounds. Never having been this deep in the dungeon before, I have no idea what a light-blue U is. 'Horned Reaper', eh? Well, that's got to be good for some XP, so off goes Lalaith V to melee it.

The Horned Reaper summons some greater demons before I can get close, and I have to hack down an Osyluth first. The Horned Reaper finishes off the weaked Osyluth before I can, which does not put me in a good mood. Still, now I'm facing the Horned Reaper in a corridor with all the other greater demons stuck behind it, and I'm doing okay after quaffing a Potion of Speed and casting Heal every few rounds, so, okay, kill the Horned Reaper first and then deal with its friends. I'm around 600-something HP and just about to Heal again when:

The Greater balrog breathes fire.
The Horned Reaper resists a lot.
Low hitpoint warning!

The what breathes fire? And then I noticed that I was at 1HP. Seriously. One.

A potion of *Healing* and a desperate teleport later, I'm back to safety having learnt my lesson: always assume that anything on the screen can kill you. Oops!

[Zikke]

Can't get much closer than that! Congratulations on making it out alive.

The other day I ran into Cantoras the Skeletal Lord and he shot a Ray of Death on his first turn that hit me for over 600 damage and I had 1 hp left. As my marine friend says, it was a sphincter-puckering moment (sorry to be graphic).

[Djabanete]

You should try to play more on edge. It's not a close shave unless you're at 0 hp

[Mondkalb]

These summoner bastards!
Summener who summons summoner ... Demons, Undead, Uniques .... Sometimes Angband is just cruel.

Zero points happened to one of my last lost loosers. ^^
I am trying my luck with rogues, but I am hardly able to keep them alive long enough. *sigh*
I should return to paladins.

[September_Blue]

0HP is still alive? Wow, that's impressive! I assume that's the point where the White Icky Thing strikes

I've never managed to keep a Rogue or Mage alive past 400 feet. Gimme a Paladin every time!

[Zikke]

0HP is still alive? Wow, that's impressive! I assume that's the point where the White Icky Thing strikes

Poison has killed me in that situation before and fleas.

[rdermyer]

Less than a minute ago, Kavlax hit me with gravity and knocked me down to 0. !Healing, ?Teleportation, not going back.

[PowerDiver]

Poison has killed me in that situation before and fleas.

It's the closest shave when you drop to 0 hp, have something like poison or bleeding, out of healing items, and your spells have noticeable chance of failure.

Another really close shave is to be apparently doomed, and cast portal even though you only have 1 mana, get a little ways away and pass out, and wonder if you will regain consciousness before someone reaches you for the final blow.

One more is to reach town starving without any chance of walking to the general store or home, and hope that a phase or two gets you close enough to get there before you die.