New memorable randarts

[Jay]

I hadn't realized that those were common characteristics of all Morgul blades. I just thought "drains experience" and "sustains your life force" were a weird combination since they are directly opposed to each other. Yeah, I agree the old curse, where you can't let go of a weapon until the curse is removed, made the game more interesting.

[Sky]

i know, right? I hate the new weapons of morgul, i much preferred the heavily cursed 3.X version that felt "deadly cold", something which only an undead could wield.

.. i mean, they *are* useless. Who the heck is going to wield a cursed weapon that drains XP and all it has to offer is a meh damage bonus and slay undead. Slay undead is not something that you need before DL65. Even at early depths you can get more *useful* damage out of a branded dagger.

The cursed ones were useless as well, except as a tool to prevent you from wielding unknown weapons. Now they don't even do that anymore.

[Jay]

Hmmm...

a Rapier of Morgul (1d6) (+12, +10)

Slays undead.
Branded with poison.
Can be destroyed by acid.
Grants the ability to see invisible things. Sustains your life force. Aggravates creatures nearby. Drains experience.

[Estie]

Thats a fun find! You are doing great for general melee, and will be ok for a long time to come; but demons, beware! Now youre going to look for them, search them out, like an orc possessed.

[AceRimmer]

This is perhaps more a case of the right artifact being found by the right character at the right depth as opposed to a super-crazy overpowered weapon. My level 14 half-orc warrior won this drop from Mughash at 700' (DL 14). I think it's the *10* dice of damage from a Main Gauche that caused my eyes to bug out (but fortunately, my eyes are protected from blindness). If and when I reach the endgame, this weapon will still be a legit choice for hunting down unique demons.

the Main Gauche of Rathrada (10d5) (+12,+8)
Dropped by Mughash the Kobold Lord at 700 feet (level 14)

Slays demons (powerfully).
Provides protection from blindness.
Cannot be harmed by acid.
Blessed by the gods.

Combat info:
2.3 blows/round.
With +1 STR and +0 DEX you would get 3.0 blows
With +0 STR and +2 DEX you would get 2.7 blows
Average damage/round: 390.7 vs. demons, and 99.4 vs. others.

[Pete Mack]

The ghast and Basilisk. at 2x speed, are a problem. The carrion crawler is a different one (and is responsible for my most memorable death, when I thought it was an orc captain.) Homunculus is harmless. Everything else at low level just isn't much of a risk, assuming you have _tele. Certainly going without FA and no reasonable escape is likely to prove disastrous.

[sffp]

Yes, I am aware. For warriors, the weapon slot is pricey to sacrifice for ESP; swapping around is a pain in the rear. A dagger of *slay evil* might be good enough to justify the switch....but chances to find one are tiny.

FA, SI, those things tend to come easily if you are the lord of the level. Obviously you need to avoid engaging the ghoul horde without FA; however, thats hardly a loss if the alternative is a painful fight with a crappy FA weapon.

All those swap options are helpful if you are crawling along, only ballast if you breeze through the dungeon.

I don't know, I think my most common death is a melee character who finds a good damage weapon but doesn't have fa and it runs into a ghast, a homoculous, an illusionist etc. and I watch helplessly hitting the space bar while it dies. Having that extra feeling of invincibility aka 1-hit death leads to taking chances that are frequently unswise.

It does not help that my playing style is based off of BBT's Penny's second movie title "Monkee See, Monkee Kill" but I've always been a paladin at heart.

[Estie]

If you do that you may miss on an early ego with ESP - or am i missing something? I know it's rare but still. I would also like to see FA/SI egos.

Yes, I am aware. For warriors, the weapon slot is pricey to sacrifice for ESP; swapping around is a pain in the rear. A dagger of *slay evil* might be good enough to justify the switch....but chances to find one are tiny.

FA, SI, those things tend to come easily if you are the lord of the level. Obviously you need to avoid engaging the ghoul horde without FA; however, thats hardly a loss if the alternative is a painful fight with a crappy FA weapon.

All those swap options are helpful if you are crawling along, only ballast if you breeze through the dungeon.

[Adam]

Well I played a standart @ again, H-troll warrior, found a *thanc* on dlvl1, squelched all non-artifact weapons then and there and had the easiest win in years.

If you do that you may miss on an early ego with ESP - or am i missing something? I know it's rare but still. I would also like to see FA/SI egos.

[Estie]

Well I played a standart @ again, H-troll warrior, found a *thanc* on dlvl1, squelched all non-artifact weapons then and there and had the easiest win in years. Sffp's whip is better than a thanc, but good luck finding something like that early in randart games. It is worthy of a post in this thread for sure. Typically you find things like Elvagil and end up using a magic dagger till stat gain.

When you find Elvagil in a standart game, you can complain because you _know_ there are half a dozen better artifacts at that level. With randarts, you never know if there are any good early weapons, and often there arent.

The reason for this is simply that the standart set has a bunch of early weapons based on light types, dagger rapier etc, whereas there is no such bias in the randart algorithm. A branded warhammer with SI and regeneration is a decent early artifact, but chances are you are trading damage for that SI when you wield it in favor of your dagger +6.

Now in the late game, its not uncommon to find some artifact with high dice and brands and/or blows that deals more damage than Wrath or any other standart. If you do, the endgame will be easier. The game as a whole is not.

[sffp]

I think my RPG was making up for this abomination in the previous game:

t) the Lucerne Hammer of Orithar (2d5) (+13,+12)
Found lying on the floor in a vault at 1300 feet (level 26)

Cannot be harmed by Acid, Fire.

Combat info:
1.0 blow/round.
With +7 STR and +0 DEX you would attack a bit faster
With +11 STR and +0 DEX you would get 1.1 blows
With +0 STR and +2 DEX you would attack a bit faster
With +7 STR and +2 DEX you would get 1.1 blows
With +0 STR and +5 DEX you would get 1.1 blows
Average damage/round: 12.7.

That's it. That's all.

[Pete Mack]

Meanwhile, I am still struggling along with Elvagil--arguably the worst usable standard artifact.

[sffp]

To flesh out now that I've id'd the whole weapon found at 150 ft

a) the Whip 'Estint' (3d3) (+14,+18) [+3] <+2, +3, +1>
Found lying on the floor at 150 feet (level 3)

+2 intelligence.
+3 constitution.
+3 speed.
+1 light.
Slays undead (powerfully), dragons (powerfully), demons
(powerfully), giants, trolls, orcs, animals, evil creatures.
Provides resistance to Lightning, Fire, Cold, Light, Sound,
Shards.
Cannot be harmed by Acid, Fire.
Sustains intelligence.
Grants the ability to see invisible things. Prevents paralysis.

When activated, it deals 60 damage to all evil creatures that you
can see.
Takes 94 to 105 turns to recharge at your current speed.
Your chance of success is 83.0%

Combat info:
1.6 blows/round.
With +1 STR and +0 DEX you would get 2.0 blows
With +0 STR and +2 DEX you would get 2.0 blows
Average damage/round: 93.6 vs undead, dragons, and demons, 71.5 vs
giants, trolls, and orcs, 60.5 vs animals and evil creatures, and
49.4 vs. others.

[sffp]

My next half-orc blackguard has found:
(I don't even know how good it is, but it's better than my 2d4 Tulwar)

a) the Whip 'Estint' (3d3) (+14,+18) [+3] <+2, +3, +1> {??}
Found lying on the floor at 150 feet (level 3)

You do not know the full extent of this item's powers.
+2 intelligence.
+3 constitution.
+3 speed.
+1 light.
Sustains intelligence.
Grants the ability to see invisible things.

When activated, it deals 60 damage to all evil creatures that you
can see.
Takes 94 to 105 turns to recharge at your current speed.
Your chance of success is 77.2%

Combat info:
1.6 blows/round.
With +1 STR and +0 DEX you would get 2.0 blows
With +0 STR and +2 DEX you would get 2.0 blows
Average damage/round: 47.8.

[Estie]

Well I disagree but theres little point in continuing the argument, its too minor a thing.