Lief, the High-Elf Ranger

[Wisp]

Character Dump:

http://pastebin.com/fFmRL7PY

I've had a lot of luck with this character, but I'm a little unsure what my current plan of action should be now. I've found some great artifacts (Lotharang, Dor-Lomin, Celegorm), and dove moderately fast, fueled by several great items I found in a vault in dlvl 20. Currently I'd like to dive farther, but I'm missing a few things, notably hold life and some form of +speed. The resistance spellbook would also be nice (I've found 3 of the higher priest spellbooks >_<). My High-Elf experience penalty is really starting to bite me in the ass now... The bonuses are mostly shadowed by my gear now.

In addition, I've seen Kavlax several times, but have decided to keep my distance for now, not sure what to do about him.

Finally, a few questions. What do the 'heavy' and 'stun' effects do? I would imagine they impair my combat, but I'm not sure. Does chaos resist also give me pConf? Can my gear still be disenchanted (savings throw) even with rDisen? Does the rod of drain life give me health back from other creatures?

Thanks.

[Wisp]

Update:

Killed kavlax, he neglected to breath pain and dropped an Aman cloak with rNether, but I'm not sure if I want to lose the +3 stealth I have from Holcolleth.

I also maxed my Str, Con and Dex.

[Wisp]

Finally found an amulet worth wearing --- An amulet of sustenance showed up at the black market, dealing with my sustain issues and my HLife issues in one go. Still having confusion issues, though. :/

[Wisp]

Well I figured out what stun does.

Walked down a flight of stairs, next to a pack of plasma hounds. Thought they were fire hounds, took a step, got knocked out and died.

*sigh*

[Derakon]

Ooh, yeah, plasma hounds are nasty that way. Sorry for your loss.

Stunning makes you worse at just about everything -- you have higher failure rates on spells and devices and your to-hit and to-dam take big penalties -- but the big problem with stun is that it's a precursor to heavy stun, which is a precursor to being knocked out. When fighting monsters with a high chance to stun, that's a serious risk.

You can get stunned in melee when your enemy lands a critical hit; this isn't usually a big deal though it's generally still worth curing (chug a potion of Cure Critical Wounds). Some monsters (particularly Master and Grand Master Mystics) land nothing but critical hits and can thus really ramp up your stun counter. Try to avoid meleeing them if possible, or have a really good AC if you do so they can't hit reliably.

[Wisp]

Yeah, thing is, I was careless and my brain identified a red Z as 'fire hound'

>_<

I'm rolling a priest now. Will probably post after I hit clvl 20 or so... my low level turnover for casters is way too high.

[Wisp]

Tharn the dwarven priest has been having the oddest luck. He id'd by drinking a potion of intellect on dlvl1(!!)... which drained his wisdom. >_< Later on he cleared a jelly pit on dlvl 12 which yielded... a potion of intelligence.

On the other hand I got a lot of XP from the pit, and wormtongue dropped a nice War Hammer of Slay Orc (+8, +8), so we'll see where this goes.

[Wisp]

Welp, killed a few more uniques, and found a 'thanc, which Tharn promptly sold to fill the coffers of the church. Also found gear to cover the elemental resists and free action, which has allowed my to delve further. Other notable achievements include a blessed whip, which I swap with my hammer of slay orc; I use the wisdom boost to buff before tackling the orcs, as I will have full mana after the swap, as well as a damage boost. I also found a +might short bow, which has contributed to my damage output. Things are looking good for our priestly friend.

[Wisp]

[Wisp]

...and then a +9 pair of boots of speed shows up in the ARMOR SHOP.

I'm so confused. And also completely okay with this. Totally worth the 48k gold.

[Timo Pietilä]

...and then a +9 pair of boots of speed shows up in the ARMOR SHOP.

I'm so confused. And also completely okay with this. Totally worth the 48k gold.

48k? That should have been 480k or more.

Shop prices need fixing for BoS.

[debo]

48k? That should have been 480k or more.

Shop prices need fixing for BoS.

If you're going to make BoS 480K, then we better add a building #9 that is a mortgage broker :P

[Timo Pietilä]

If you're going to make BoS 480K, then we better add a building #9 that is a mortgage broker :P

I was quite serious with that comment. Speed is the most valued flag in an item, it trumps everything else. In an armor without any drawbacks that is doubly so.

There are only two items that are better than +9 BoS: +10 BoS and Feanor.

In older vanilla BoS +9 would have cost that much if not more. 48k is way too low price, it needs fixing.

Speed item price should be some sort of exponential function. +1 is not extremely valuable, but +10 is something everyone wants.

Start with 2000gp, go with 100% increase for each addition.

+1 2000
+2 4000
+3 8000
+4 16000
+5 32000
+6 64000
+7 128000
+8 256000
+9 512000
+10 1024000

[Wisp]

To be fair, part of the reason it cost so little was likely because I found it in the armor shop, instead of the black market. I don't even know how such a ridiculous item was generated in the armor shop. But I don't know how you modify prices between shops. If it's some linear growth thing, then your point is still valid.

EDIT: Just remembered, it should be noted this is Angband 3.2.0, lousy out of date ubuntu packaging.

[Derakon]

It's been a long time since the old days, but I seem to recall Black Market rings of speed costing on the order of a million AU back in frog-knows.

Probably Boots of Speed just shouldn't be allowed in the armor shop at all.