YASD/Advice

[KoboldMan]

I just recently lost my first real serious character, a kobold rogue (see below). The death itself was completely idiotic, the result of assuming that my stealth would avoid waking up Huan. Then he breathed on me as I was running down a corrider; I didn't notice the loss of HP and didn't read the message, so I assumed the reason that I stopped running was that I had come to the end of the dTrap area. I stopped to cast detect monsters, he breathed again, and suddenly I was staring at a tombstone screen. But my own stupidity aside, I'd like advice on the character, having never been nearly this deep before. What glaring resistance holes should I have fixed, and what else should I have done to bring Jenny to an endgame-capable character?

(Should I have attached this instead of pasting it into the forum? It was over the size limit for a text file post attachment.)

[Angband 3.1.2 Character Dump]

Name Jenny the Deadly Self RB CB EB Best
Sex Female Age 16 STR! 18/100 -1 +2 +6 18/170
Race Kobold Height 35 INT! 18/100 -1 +1 +2 18/120
Class Rogue Weight 53 WIS: 18/76 +0 -2 +2 18/76
Title Master Thief Social Liked DEX: 18/46 +2 +3 +6 18/156
HP -287/750 Maximize Y CON: 18/81 +2 +1 +4 18/151
SP 193/221 CHR: 15 -2 -1 +0 12

Level 48 Armor [26,+128] Saving Throw 81%
Cur Exp 5331130 Fight (+32,+23) Stealth Heroic
Max Exp 5331130 Melee (+45,+44) Fighting Legendary
Adv Exp 5600000 Shoot (+43,+12) Shooting Legendary
MaxDepth 4950' (L99) Blows 5/turn Disarming 100%
Game Turns 1378242 Shots 2/turn Magic Device 92
Player Turns 208662 Infra 50 ft Perception 1 in 1
Active Turns 71162 Speed 22 Searching 57%
Gold 1033742 Burden 175.4 lbs

You come from a litter of 6 pups. Your father was a fungus farmer, and
your mother was a cook. You have light brown eyes, a dark brown hide,
and small, sharp teeth.


rAcid:...+..+.*.+.. rConf:.........+...
rElec:......+...... Sound:........+....
rFire:......+...... Shard:.............
rCold:......+...... Nexus:.......+.....
rPois:............+ Nethr:......+......
rFear:+.......+.... Chaos:........+....
rLite:.....+....... Disen:.............
rDark:.....++...... S.Dig:....+........
rBlnd:.........+... Feath:.............

Light:............. Aggrv:.............
Regen:............. Stea.:......++.....
ESP:............. Sear.:.........+...
Invis:+....+...+... Infra:............+
FrAct:........+.+.. Tunn.:.............
HLife:....++....... Speed:+.+....+...+.
ImpHP:............. Blows:.............
ImpSP:............. Shots:.+...........
Fear:............. Might:.............


[Last Messages]

> You hear a door burst open!
> You smite the Hill orc.
> You have slain the Hill orc.
> You smite the Hill orc.
> You have slain the Hill orc.
> You see a Staff of Remove Curse (6 charges).
> You see a Rod of Lightning Balls.
> You sense the presence of traps!
> You sense the presence of doors!
> It breathes shards.
> You have been given a deep gash.
> You sense the presence of monsters!
> You sense the presence of invisible creatures!
> Huan, Wolfhound of the Valar breathes frost.
> You die.

Killed by Huan, Wolfhound of the Valar.

[Character Equipment]

a) The Lance of Eorlingas (3d8) (+13,+21) (+2)
+2 strength, dexterity, speed.
Slays evil creatures, orcs, trolls.
Provides resistance to fear.
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
Grants the ability to see invisible things.

Combat info:
5 blows/round.
This weapon benefits from one or more off-weapon brands or slays.
Average damage/hit: 81.5 vs. evil creatures, 97.9 vs. orcs, 97.9
vs. trolls, 97.9 vs. creatures not resistant to acid, and 65.2 vs.
others.

b) a Long Bow of Extra Shots (x3) (+11,+12) (+1)
+1 shooting speed.

c) a Ring of Speed (+9)
+9 speed.

d) a Ring of Acid [+20]
It brands your melee attacks with acid.
Provides resistance to acid.
Cannot be harmed by acid.

e) an Amulet of Sustenance
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
Sustains strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, constitution,
charisma.
Slows your metabolism. Sustains your life force.

f) The Arkenstone of Thrain
Provides resistance to light, dark.
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
Sustains your life force. Grants the ability to see invisible
things.

When activated, it detects treasure, traps, doors, stairs, and all
creatures nearby.
Takes 99 to 192 turns to recharge at your current speed.
Your chance of success is 92.6%

Radius 3 light.
g) The Soft Leather Armour 'Hithlomir' [4,+19] (+4)
+4 stealth.
Provides resistance to acid, lightning, fire, cold, dark, nether.
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.

h) The Cloak 'Colannon' [1,+15] (+3)
+3 stealth, speed.
Provides resistance to nexus.
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.

When activated, it teleports you randomly up to 100 squares away.
Takes 144 turns to recharge at your current speed.
Your chance of success is 97.1%

i) The Small Metal Shield of Thorin [4,+25] (+4)
+4 strength, constitution.
Provides immunity to acid.
Provides resistance to fear, sound, chaos.
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
Prevents paralysis.

j) The Iron Helm 'Holhenneth' [5,+10] (+2)
+2 intelligence, wisdom.
+10% to searching.
Provides resistance to blindness, confusion.
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
Grants the ability to see invisible things.

When activated, it detects treasure, traps, doors, stairs, and all
creatures nearby.
Takes 179 to 352 turns to recharge at your current speed.
Your chance of success is 95.9%

k) The Set of Caestus of Fingolfin (+10,+10) [5,+20] (+4)
+4 dexterity.
Provides resistance to acid.
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
Prevents paralysis.

When aimed, it fires a magical arrow with damage 150.
Takes 99 to 192 turns to recharge at your current speed.
Your chance of success is 93.9%

l) a Pair of Mithril Shod Boots of Speed [7,+9] (+8)
+8 speed.
Cannot be harmed by acid.



[Character Quiver]

n) 33 Arrows of Flame (1d4) (+13,+17)
Branded with flames.
Cannot be harmed by fire.

Combat info:
Hits targets up to 120 feet away.
Average damage/hit: 297.7 vs. creatures not resistant to fire, and
99.2 vs. others.
35% chance of breaking upon contact.

o) 37 Arrows of Venom (1d4) (+10,+9)
Branded with venom.

Combat info:
Hits targets up to 120 feet away.
Average damage/hit: 222.1 vs. creatures not resistant to poison,
and 74 vs. others.
35% chance of breaking upon contact.

p) 48 Seeker Arrows of Frost (4d4) (+9,+10)
Branded with frost.
Cannot be harmed by cold.

Combat info:
Hits targets up to 120 feet away.
Average damage/hit: 302.4 vs. creatures not resistant to cold, and
100.8 vs. others.
35% chance of breaking upon contact.

q) 29 Mithril Arrows of Venom (3d4) (+9,+10)
Branded with venom.
Cannot be harmed by acid, fire.

Combat info:
Hits targets up to 120 feet away.
Average damage/hit: 278.8 vs. creatures not resistant to poison,
and 92.9 vs. others.
35% chance of breaking upon contact.

r) 29 Arrows of Slay Evil (1d4) (+9,+13)
Slays evil creatures.

Combat info:
Hits targets up to 120 feet away.
Average damage/hit: 173.2 vs. evil creatures, and 86.6 vs. others.
35% chance of breaking upon contact.

s) 21 Arrows of Slay Evil (1d4) (+10,+12)
Slays evil creatures.

Combat info:
Hits targets up to 120 feet away.
Average damage/hit: 166.9 vs. evil creatures, and 83.5 vs. others.
35% chance of breaking upon contact.

t) 29 Mithril Arrows of Flame (3d4) (+9,+10)
Branded with flames.
Cannot be harmed by acid, fire.

Combat info:
Hits targets up to 120 feet away.
Average damage/hit: 278.8 vs. creatures not resistant to fire, and
92.9 vs. others.
35% chance of breaking upon contact.

u) 21 Arrows of Lightning (1d4) (+9,+8)
Branded with lightning.
Cannot be harmed by electricity.

Combat info:
Hits targets up to 120 feet away.
Average damage/hit: 212.6 vs. creatures not resistant to
electricity, and 70.9 vs. others.
35% chance of breaking upon contact.

v) 15 Seeker Arrows of Slay Evil (4d4) (+12,+13)
Slays evil creatures.

Combat info:
Hits targets up to 120 feet away.
Average damage/hit: 220.5 vs. evil creatures, and 110.2 vs. others.
35% chance of breaking upon contact.

w) (nothing)


[Character Inventory]

a) 2 Books of Magic Spells [Magic for Beginners]
b) a Book of Magic Spells [Conjurings and Tricks]
c) a Book of Magic Spells [Incantations and Illusions]
d) 2 Books of Magic Spells [Sorcery and Evocations]
e) a Book of Magic Spells [Resistances of Scarabtarices]
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.

f) a Book of Magic Spells [Mordenkainen's Escapes]
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.

g) a Book of Magic Spells [Tenser's Transformations]
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.

h) 5 Potions of Cure Critical Wounds

i) 2 Potions of Healing

j) 2 Rods of Magic Mapping
k) 2 Rods of Teleport Other
l) a Staff of Healing (0 charges)
m) 2 Staves of Holiness (6 charges)



[Home Inventory]

a) a Ring of Speed (+9)
+9 speed.

b) The Amulet of Ingwe (+3)
+3 intelligence, wisdom, charisma, infravision.
Provides resistance to acid, lightning, cold, confusion.
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
Prevents paralysis. Grants the ability to see invisible things.

When activated, it deals five times your level's damage to all evi
l creatures that you can see.
Takes 163 to 320 turns to recharge at your current speed.
Your chance of success is 90.4%

c) The Elfstone 'Elessar' (+7,+7) [+10] (+2)
+2 strength, wisdom, charisma, speed.
Provides resistance to fire, poison, fear.
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.

When activated, it heals 500 hit points.
Takes 640 turns to recharge at your current speed.
Your chance of success is 91.2%

d) Balance Dragon Scale Mail (-2) [30,+21]
Provides resistance to sound, shards, chaos, disenchantment.
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.

e) The Chain Mail of Arvedui (-2) [14,+15] (+2)
+2 strength, charisma.
Provides resistance to acid, lightning, fire, cold, shards, nexus.
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.

f) The Metal Brigandine Armour of the Rohirrim [20,+15] (+2)
+2 strength, dexterity.
Provides resistance to acid, lightning, fire, cold, fear,
confusion, sound.
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.

g) The Adamantite Plate Mail 'Soulkeeper' (-4) [40,+20] (+2)
+2 constitution.
Provides resistance to acid, cold, fear, dark, confusion, nexus,
nether, chaos.
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
Sustains constitution.
Sustains your life force.

When activated, it heals 1000 hit points.
Takes 1420 turns to recharge at your current speed.
Your chance of success is 88.6%

h) The Leather Scale Mail 'Thalkettoth' (-1) [10,+25] (+3)
+3 dexterity, speed.
Provides resistance to acid, shards.
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
Prevents paralysis.

i) The Cloak 'Holcolleth' [1,+9] (+3)
+3 intelligence, wisdom, stealth, speed.
Provides resistance to acid.
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.

When activated, it puts to sleep the monsters around you.
Takes 176 turns to recharge at your current speed.
Your chance of success is 97.1%

j) The Hard Leather Cap of Thranduil [2,+10] (+2)
+2 intelligence, wisdom.
Provides resistance to blindness.
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
Grants telepathy.

k) The Rapier 'Careth Asdriag' (2d6) (+16,+12) (+1)
+1 strength, dexterity, constitution, attack speed.
Slays animals, orcs, trolls, giants, dragons.
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.

Combat info:
6 blows/round.
This weapon benefits from one or more off-weapon brands or slays.
Average damage/hit: 50.2 vs. animals, 57.7 vs. orcs, 57.7 vs.
trolls, 57.7 vs. giants, 57.7 vs. dragons, 57.7 vs. creatures not
resistant to acid, and 42.6 vs. others.

l) The Spear of Orome (4d6) (+15,+15) (+4)
+4 intelligence, infravision, speed.
Slays animals, giants.
Branded with flames.
Provides resistance to fire, light.
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
Blessed by the gods. Feather Falling. Grants the ability to see
invisible things.

When aimed, it turns rock into mud.
Takes 16 turns to recharge at your current speed.
Your chance of success is 96.3%

Combat info:
5 blows/round.
This weapon benefits from one or more off-weapon brands or slays.
Average damage/hit: 67.5 vs. animals, 82.7 vs. giants, 82.7 vs.
creatures not resistant to acid, 82.7 vs. creatures not resistant
to fire, and 52.4 vs. others.

Radius 1 light.
m) The Spear 'Aeglos' (3d6) (+15,+25) [+5] (+4)
+4 wisdom, dexterity.
Slays evil creatures, orcs, trolls.
*Slays* undead.
Branded with frost.
Provides resistance to cold, fear.
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
Blessed by the gods. Slows your metabolism. Prevents paralysis.


When aimed, it creates a frost ball with damage 100.
Takes 112 turns to recharge at your current speed.
Your chance of success is 96.3%

Combat info:
5 blows/round.
This weapon benefits from one or more off-weapon brands or slays.
Average damage/hit: 70.8 vs. evil creatures, 82.1 vs. orcs, 82.1
vs. trolls, 82.1 vs. creatures not resistant to acid, 82.1 vs.
creatures not resistant to cold, 104.8 vs. undead, and 59.5 vs.
others.

n) The Battle Axe of Balli Stonehand (3d8) (+8,+11) [+5] (+3)
+3 strength, constitution, stealth.
Slays demons, orcs, trolls.
Provides resistance to acid, lightning, fire, cold, blindness.
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
Feather Falling. Speeds regeneration. Prevents paralysis.
Grants the ability to see invisible things.

Combat info:
5 blows/round.
This weapon benefits from one or more off-weapon brands or slays.
Average damage/hit: 81.9 vs. demons, 81.9 vs. orcs, 81.9 vs.
trolls, 81.9 vs. creatures not resistant to acid, and 51.6 vs.
others.

o) The Scythe 'Avavir' (5d3) (+18,+12) [+30] (+3)
+3 dexterity, charisma, speed.
Branded with flames, frost.
Provides resistance to fire, cold, light.
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
Prevents paralysis. Grants the ability to see invisible things.

When activated, it returns you from the dungeon or takes you to th
e dungeon after a short delay.
Takes 640 turns to recharge at your current speed.
Your chance of success is 93.9%

Combat info:
5 blows/round.
This weapon benefits from one or more off-weapon brands or slays.
Average damage/hit: 68.7 vs. creatures not resistant to acid, 68.7
vs. creatures not resistant to fire, 68.7 vs. creatures not
resistant to cold, and 46.1 vs. others.

Radius 1 light.
p) The Short Bow of Amrod (x4) (+12,+15) (+2)
+2 strength, constitution, shooting power.
Provides resistance to lightning, fire, cold.
Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
Speeds regeneration.

q) a Light Crossbow of Extra Shots (x3) (+15,+14) (+1)
+1 shooting speed.

r) 28 Bolts of Acid (1d5) (+8,+13)
Branded with acid.
Cannot be harmed by acid.

s) 20 Bolts of Lightning (1d5) (+6,+11)
Branded with lightning.
Cannot be harmed by electricity.

t) 18 Bolts of Slay Dragon (1d5) (+10,+10)
Slays dragons.

u) 26 Mithril Bolts (3d5) (+7,+8)
Cannot be harmed by acid, fire.

v) 27 Arrows of Slay Animal (1d4) (+12,+11)
Slays animals.

Combat info:
Hits targets up to 120 feet away.
Average damage/hit: 160.6 vs. animals, and 80.3 vs. others.
35% chance of breaking upon contact.

w) 20 Arrows of Slay Evil (1d4) (+8,+7)
Slays evil creatures.

Combat info:
Hits targets up to 120 feet away.
Average damage/hit: 135.4 vs. evil creatures, and 67.7 vs. others.
35% chance of breaking upon contact.

[Zikke]

If you already died and didn't choose to dump your character at the tombstone screen, then I don't think you can post it.

[miyazaki]

ESP over rConf all day long. If you were wearing Thranduil, you would still be alive. You would have seen Huan wake up and start following you. No need for the detection spell.

[Sirridan]

ESP over rConf all day long. If you were wearing Thranduil, you would still be alive. You would have seen Huan wake up and start following you. No need for the detection spell.

This. Also if the situation merits it, you can swap out helms for RConf for a short time, then go back again.

But don't feel too bad, I did the same thing basically against the same monster... except I was meleeing it with Turmil (immunity to Cold) and I was healing after he breathed shards, except I kinda zoned out (2 blows per round, his hp was dropping really slowly) and He breathed twice and I wasn't able to heal. But such is life.

Edit: Too bad you didn't really have another source of rElec, otherwise you could have done Elfstone + Soulkeeper + Thranduil

Other than that, you were pretty much ready, although you really needed to get 18/200 con to max your hp.

[Pete Mack]

ESP over rConf all day long. If you were wearing Thranduil, you would still be alive. You would have seen Huan wake up and start following you. No need for the detection spell.

Yup. ESP gives you much better reflexes. Going down stairs at deep levels it's an absolute must. With ESP, rConf makes a fine swap when you know you are facing a confuser in a few turns.

Vs Huan: if you don't have rShards, you generally can't fight him.* And you want double cold resist before you even teleport him away. Same holds for Carcharoth, but more so. In terms of absolute damage, he's just about as dangerous as Sauron.


* If you have a whole lot of HP and/or healing, you can fight him. But expect 450 damage, and mortal wounds, in any one turn.

[KoboldMan]

Thanks for the advice, I went through the game thinking of ESP as something of an unnecessary luxury to be worn if convenient once I had plugged all the resistance holes. I had rConf because I have been killed many times by confusion, but now that you mention it I could just use ESP to avoid confusers and carry the resist as a swap.

Also, I was not in any way trying to fight Huan. He had already hit me with a shard breath once on an earlier level that did more than enough damage to make me read tLevel immediately. The real mistake I made was assuming he wouldn't wake up.

[KoboldMan]

And another question; I had a ring of speed +9 in my house. Should I have swapped it in for my ring of acid?

[Sirridan]

And another question; I had a ring of speed +9 in my house. Should I have swapped it in for my ring of acid?

Your base speed was 22, putting it up to 31 wouldn't do much due to diminishing returns.

[miyazaki]

Thanks for the advice, I went through the game thinking of ESP as something of an unnecessary luxury to be worn if convenient once I had plugged all the resistance holes. I had rConf because I have been killed many times by confusion, but now that you mention it I could just use ESP to avoid confusers and carry the resist as a swap.

You could have covered rConf with Ingwe or Rohirrim. Of course, this would have left you open to nether, but I think it is a "better risk". The "sustenance is useful if you are planning to melee M at the end, but not really necessary when you are gathering consumables/upgrading kit. The activation on Ingwe is also super useful for clearing orc/troll/black dragon pits.

Amrod would have helped with your CON issues, too, since it seems like you were set up for melee rather than archery.

[dhegler]

Why Hithlomir when you had BDSM, Soulkeeper, and Thalkettoth? That would be my question...

[KoboldMan]

Soulkeeper would have left lightning open, though in retrospect I probably could have plugged that with something else. It's obvious judging from these comments that Hithlomir is considered a rather questionable choice; I wore it mainly for the nether resist which I felt was crucial.

[Derakon]

Nether resistance is firmly in the "nice to have" category. Drained experience is easily restored (and hold life will cover this regardless), and damage reduction is unreliable -- you'll take anywhere from 1/7th to 6/7ths normal damage, at random. That means that the normal maximum damage from a nether breath, 550, might only be reduced to 471. Of course in practice it'll usually be reduced by more, but you can't count on it.

In general, a lot of the high resistances are optional unless you are specifically dealing with monsters that deal that kind of damage. It's far more important to be able to see your enemies coming, so that you can avoid the monsters you aren't equipped to deal with.

[KoboldMan]

That's good to know, do all high resists work like that?

[Pete Mack]

Yes, although the ratios differ depending on the resist. (Note: RPois works more like an ordinary element, but is capped at 800 max damage.)
Nether, Chaos Disenchantment resist is 6/(6+1d6) (damage between 0.5 and 0.86 base damage)
Light, Dark are 4/(6+1d6)
Sound, Conf are 5/(6+1d6)

See:

http://trac.rephial.org/browser/trunk/src/monster/constants.h

for definitions.

[Derakon]

Oh, whoops. I though it was the numerator that varied, not the denominator. My mistake. Thanks for the correction.