Complete N00b's Journey Character #3: Anwe, the Hobbit Warrior

**Estie** · March 24, 2019, 13:32

As others have mentioned, random starting stats tends to make for a very weak character in the early game. 13 str is a pain for the low carrying capacity alone, never mind the melee damage. With that character I wouldnt equip armor for weight reasons.

Now the usual advice for melee toons is to get a light dagger early on, but that assumes high str. There is an anomaly in the Angband melee mechanics in that high str boosts attack speed with light weapons (much more so than dex), but with low str and high dex, a heavy weapon might end up doing more damage for you - if you can get hold of a good one.

**Derakon** · March 24, 2019, 15:11

Just so we're clear on this: in the long run, it's pretty much expected that every character will find enough stat-boosting potions to max out every stat. Random starting stats just means you don't have as much control over which stats take longer to max out, and more pertinently, that the period of the game before you start finding stat potions becomes considerably harder. Every class has one specific stat that they want to allocate the majority of their stat points to, which makes a huge difference in their viability. For mages it's INT, for priests it's WIS, for everyone else it's STR. (EDIT: I guess half-trolls usually want to make up their DEX penalty instead of boosting their already colossal STR...)

It's fine if you want to artificially challenge yourself...just recognize that that's what you're doing.

Otherwise, your gear looks more than adequate for where you are in the game. Warriors have a fairly simple early game: just bash things on the head and try not to get overwhelmed. You'll want to pick up a Staff of Detect Evil soonish as it's your only means of monster detection for quite some time. Staff of Teleport is of course also very useful.

**wobbly** · March 24, 2019, 16:21

Warriors are the 2nd best archers in the game. Hobbits(& High-elfs) the best archery races. I can see on the dump that a plain arrow does the same damage as your melee weapon with better accuracy. So really with enough arrows + phase doors you shouldn't have any major problems. Except for running out of hps, I suggest not doing that.

**Pete Mack** · March 24, 2019, 20:07

Yes. Random stats are a huge drag on a starting player, especially for a class like hobbit warrior. Dwarf or Half-troll warrior would be much more powerful, since they have guaranteed early strength. The other trouble is that it takes w looong time to get to 18 base STR, where increases go much faster

**wizard44** · March 25, 2019, 06:28

Thanks for the input everyone. So I was *barely* able to accomplish this goal after using almost all of his light sources to do this, as well as his entire stock of arrows.

Complete N00b's Journey: Part 3-2

I Recalled back to D:7, where I killed a couple of apprentices and a giant red frog to get to level 8. A group of gallants on the same level fell to arrows and dropped a Wand of Slow Monster. I also found a Wand of Confuse Monster and killed various molds and a snaga to get to level 9. After killing a Cave Lizard and Night lizard, I found the down stairs and read-id'€™d Scrolls of Identify Rune and Magic Mapping that I found on the same level. Upon descent to D:8, I found the down stairs using my remaining scroll of Magic Mapping and went to D:9 after getting to level 10 by killing a grey mold and a wild cat. D:9 was where I quaff-id'd a Potion of Neutralize Poison, and use-id'€™d a wand of light that I found on D:7. I also read-id'€™d a Scroll of Monster Confusion when I found the down-stairs to D:10. D:10 had 1250 gold pieces worth of rubies, which was a huge boon for my future budget, and the downstairs relatively close by. D:11 had absolutely no items or monsters for me to deal with before I found the stairs to D:12, which was rather strange. D:12 had the same occurrence, although the downstairs was even closer. D:13 had a large kobold and a ragtag group of apprentices of solders for me to kill, and a scroll that turned out to be Door Destruction upon read-id on the downstairs. D:14 had a group of giant fleas that took me to level 11. Killing an Easterling warrior, a disenchanter mold, a wild cat, a shrieker mushroom patch, flesh golem, a silver jelly, and two crows, put me to level 12. A group of snagas there forces me to quaff my Potion of light wounds and one of my potions of cure critical wounds. After death, they drop a potion which was one of Infravision upon quaffing. Soon, I run smack dab into a spotted jelly, which proceeds to damage my shield, Hard Leather Cap, and small metal shield, with a vengeance, forcing me to use a scroll of phase door to retreat. Upon an attempt to escape using the period speed walking, the spotted jelly somehow runs into me again, furthering damage to my Leather scale mail. I ended up taking off my hard leather cap since it was no longer providing me with any AC. Killing a green naga and a pack of white wolves takes me to level 13. Dispatching a dark elven priest on the same level as well as some black harpies and animals got me to level 14. I found a ring of Resist fire and Cold and a potion that turned out to be Berserk Strength when quaff-idâ€™d. Upon further exploration, I found a Battle Axe (2d8) (+4, +4) that was generally better than the whip of slay animal that I had been using. A group of lemurs do a number on my hit points, as well as another spotted jelly that I run smack dab into, forcing me to use a Scroll of Phase door and quaff another potion of Cure Serious Wounds. I read-idâ€™ some scrolls of Treasure Detection on that level, pick up and read-id scrolls of satisfy hunger (allowing me to drop my rations of Food) and descend to D:15. Another gang of White Wolves as well as a dark elven mage cause me to use scrolls of Phase Door and quaff potions of Cure Serious wounds to stabilize and turn aside the threat. Luckily, I find a fresh supply of Cure Serious Wounds in another room in the level, which were soon needed to deal with a pack of wolves and a dark elven priest. Things were made worse when a staff of summoning summoned spiders that poisoned me. When the dust settles, I am at level 16 and find myself in possession of an amulet of resist lightning. ANOTHER spotted jelly that I run into without warning, however damages my leather gloves and shield, and a group of manes and snagas nearly end my life and reduce me to my sole potion of cure serious wounds. As if I didnâ€™t have enough spotted jelly problems in my lifetime to deal with, YET ANOTHER one ambushes me and corrodes my shield and armor to pieces. I find a more powerful whip (+13, +7) that gives more damage than my slay animal whip, but not my battle axe. After read-idâ€™ing a scroll of enchant armor and quaff-idâ€™ing a Potion of Speed, I descend to D:16, where I ran into an out-of depth giant fire tick and a killer stag beetle. Fortunately, after killing an icky white thing in my escape, I find the downstairs and descend to avoid a game ending death. D:17 gets me in a fight with a priest and an orc shaman, the latter of which drops a much-appreciated Ring of Protection [+9]. I run into Smeagol, but do not choose to fight him due to my mediocre damage output at this point. Instead I run to dispatch a group of jackals, and find a Lead-filled Mace of Frost (4d3) (+6, +6), which was a very valued find for me. Further exploration of the room leads me to find 4 potions of Cure Serious Wounds before I find the down stairs.

Upon reaching D:18, I run smack dab into Orfac, Son of Boldor, which went down to the last of my arrows and dropped a heavy Crossbow of Accuracy (x4) (+15, 11). Battling the yeek ensemble that he left behind got me to level 17 and a second ring of protection [+8], which I equipped, and a pine staff. With only 100 turns of light left, I decided to Recall back to town and test my staff on a mean-looking mercenary, which turned out to be one of sleep monsters. I stow away my long bow and main gauche and proceed to buy 2 torches, 5 potions of Cure Serious Wounds, 7 scrolls of phase door, 1 more scroll of Word of Recall, 20 Bolts (1d5) (+3, +5), 60 standard Bolts, a scroll of Identify Rune (from the black market) to identify the hallucination curse in addition to the siren curse that the heavy crossbow of accuracy had (didnâ€™t know that there could be more than one curse on it, lol), 2 scrolls of Remove Curse to remove the siren and hallucination curses that the Heavy Crossbow of Accuracy had, and a Potion of Brawn (again from the black market) to desperately boost up my strength at the expense of my dexterity. These purchases did not leave me with enough gold to purchase a staff of teleportation, so I had to make do with some lesser purchases to cover my weakness such as a Soft Leather Armor of Resist Fire [8,+4], a metal Cap [3, +5], a set of Leather Gloves [1, +6] to replace our old ones, a Small Metal Shield [5, +0], a Pair of Leather Sandals [1, +5], a staff of Mapping, a staff of Detect Invisible, and 3 potions of cure Light Wounds. I then proceeded to buy a scroll of Recharging, a Potion of Resist Fire, and a Potion of Resist Cold for id purposes, and finish the part.

So the next goal for the character will depend on the input on your answers to the below questions:

Is it safe to proceed past D:19 without an item of Free action? I still donâ€™t have an item of free action, making this part rather problematic for me at this point.

I also am rather wary about proceeding past D:24 without the basic four resistances, as I'm not sure that the character can survive any powerful acid attacks beyond that level.

If you guys think that I can power dive to D:29 without these attributes, then my goal is to get to that level through quick diving, or get as far as possible before running out of Scrolls of Phase Door, potions of cure X wounds, or Bolts.

Otherwise, I'm going to set the goal to try to get these resistances, Free action, and See Invisible while restricting myself to D:19 (for free action), or D:24 for the other attributes.

I plan to quaff resist Fire and Resist Cold potions as soon as the next run starts, in case you guys are wondering why I'm carrying these on me.

I have updated the ladder with my current character's stats, and any tips towards properly re-orienting my character is appreciated.

**Adam** · March 25, 2019, 09:00

Since you do not know the monsters and I guess you are meleeing them quite often it is risky to proceed to DL29 in my opinion. Btw I don't see why you let jellies damage your equipment, shoot them or leave them alone, I think with 1 exception they don't move.
Your low strength means you get overburdened but unfortunately I don't see what you could easily throw away. I think you would reach the -1 speed at +15 lbs burden and you are quite far from it. But this means that some of the uniques will already double move you even if you drink haste (Bolg, Azog)
As Derakon said detect evil would be useful to better plan where to fight big packs (or avoid them).
For my taste you carry to few Cure X potions as well (but this is play style dependent so you may be correct not to carry more weight).
Your unknown amulet can be rAcid, you can use-id it if you find a baby black dragon or giant black dragon fly and let them spit on you once (in general this works for all the elements).

**wobbly** · March 25, 2019, 10:30

I think no FA is fine when you know what can paralyze you. You do have an issue though in that you've got no way to detect carrion crawlers other then light. You'd also have to be careful about ghouls, you can't allow them LOS.

**wizard44** · March 25, 2019, 10:52

The reason why I get ambushed by jellies is that the torches only have 1 radius of light, so when I auto-move, I don't detect the enemy in time before the jellies get a jump on me. Really peeved that I still haven't found a lantern yet.

The weight problem is a serious concern, so I actually switched back to the long bow and got 80 arrows to lighten the load. But, I will still be 6.2 pounds overweight after quaffing the potions of resist heat and resist cold. I agree the amount of potions is a bit low, but I really do need to watch my weight here.

I think a tentative plan is to fully explore D:18 and D:19 to try to get items that grant acid resistance, see invisible, and free action, as well as a lantern. If I'm out of luck there, then I honestly don't know how to proceed, as I'm really not sure how deep I should dive for this one. Inputs on what I should do before doing another recall back to the town would be nice.

**fph** · March 25, 2019, 12:00

My suggestion: don't worry about holes in your kit, just be careful and dive until stat potion depth anyway (DL30-35). With warriors it's more difficult since you have no detection, but you have lots of HP to compensate that.

In terms of risk-reward ratio, I think DL20-29 are the worst levels you can spend your time in.

To save weight, cut down on the bolts (you can kill most non-dangerous monsters in melee), and on the ?phase door (25 is on the conservative side). Also you don't need more than one ?sathunger at a time (and you can also simply eat till full while in town).

Watch out for rods and rings; a lot of things are better than protection, at this point.

**Pete Mack** · March 25, 2019, 14:08

Rods of light and illumination would really help you with spotted jellies. Also, you don't need to phase away, just move back a square. The problematic jellies are gelatinous cube, ochre jelly, acidic cytoplasm, and black pudding. They all move, and some move fast.

**Sphara** · March 25, 2019, 21:15

If you happen to find an amulet that slows you down by -1 or -2, it's Amulet of Inertia and it has free action.
It's a bullshit way of gaining resistance to paralysis but that bullshit can still save one's life.

**wizard44** · March 26, 2019, 04:10

Thanks a lot for the input folks. I sort of went halfway towards an attempted dive to D:29, with an emphasis of fully exploring D:18 and D:19 to build my character up with needed items and upgrades. It ended up being cut a bit short due to orcish uniques crashing the party on D:23 that forced a Recall up to town for safety.

Complete N00b’s Journey: Part 3-3

So with a tentative plan due to weight problems, I proceed to recall back to D:18 and try to explore the level to gain much-needed resistances. I kill some nagas and other animals to get me to level 18, and find a staff of Cure Light Wounds. D:19 gives me a wooden torch of brightness, and an orc vault that takes me to level 19. Killing an Uruk group drops a Wand of clone monster, which I drop, and potions of slowness and restore life levels, which I drop after quaff-id’ing. I also find a wand of wonder, and a pack of white wolves to kill to get me to level 20. I find a ring of Open Wounds, which are useless and I ignore, and a wand of magic missile, which was rather useful. Still, however, there were no useful items to be found in those levels. It was then that I got the advice to go to D:30-35 for stat potion boosts, so I began my plan to get to D:29 at all costs. At D:20, I picked up scrolls of identify rune, which allowed me to find out that my unidentified amulet WAS an amulet of resist acid and that my whip had the *Slay Troll* property. So the four resistances problem was solved, but not the free action property. I then proceed to pick up a ring of Flames [+7], which replaced my Ring of Protection [+8] and killed Bullroarer the Hobbit, who dropped the Set of Leather Gloves ‘Cammithrim’ (+5,+5) [1,+10] <+1> light, the Hard Leather Armour of Himring [20, +15], and the Long Sword ‘Elvagil’ (2d5) (+12, +12) <+2 DEX, +2 stealth>. Those were some nice drops from Bullroarer for sure! I also learned the runes of resist chaos and resist nether from my remaining scrolls of Identify rune. After dealing with Cold Hounds and a wererat, I got to level 21, and also had the poison protection rune identified. I also quaff-id’d a Potion of Salt Water, prompting an emergency reading of a scroll of satisfy hunger to stay alive, and finally found a freaking lantern. I finished off the level by read-id’ing a scroll of teleport level. D:21 saw me getting my dexterity drained by a quasit and picking up a Cedar Staff that turned out to be a staff of darkness upon use. D:22 had an unknown wand that did not identify when zapped at a creature, and Smeagol, who I dispatched without too much of a problem. I also found a wand of Lightning bolts and a unknown ring on that level before descending to D:23. On D:23, I also found a staff of teleportation, which was of a huge help from evading Bolg, Son of Azog, and Ugluk the Uruk. I unfortunately quaff-id’d a potion of Contemplation, which made things quite a bit harder on the load. It took all of my potions of speed and all of my potions of cure serious wounds to survive a fight with Uruk. During my phase door maneuvering, I picked up the Scimitar ‘Haradekket’ (4d2) (+9, +11) <+2 DEX>, which I didn’t equip untl after dispatching Uruk due to the hullabaloo. Looking at the damage of the new artifact, though, allowed me to dump my Lead-filed Mace of Frost, and free up quite a bit of space. Lugdush and Azog tag-teaming together, was too much for me, and I soon ran out of scrolls of Phase door and staff of teleportation charges and was forced to Recall for my life. I gave my unknown rings to the magic shop, where I learned that they were of Free Action and Feather Falling, and learned the Camithrim also had Free action. I also gave my unknown wand to the magic shop, where I learned that it was one of disable traps. I then proceeded to buy 2 additional scrolls of Recall, 24 Scrolls of Phase Door, a Staff of Detect Evil, 4 potions of Cure Critical Wounds, and 5 potions of Cure Serious Wounds.

Which missile weapon is better for me, The long bow or the Heavy Crossbow of Accuracy?

Which items would you buy in the black market?
A potion of *Healing*
A Rod of Probing
40 Bolts (1d5) (+6,+6) – assuming that you think the heavy crossbow is the better missile weapon for me to use.

I *think* I have all of the holes covered for now, since I have free action, see invisible, and the basic four resistances. Any other weaknesses besides my low strength that need to be covered before I attempt to dive further?

Which is a good target level to get to this time around- D:35? Fph said that D:35 is the deepest level for stat potions (30-35). I’m open to a good target depth to reach. I'm especially interested in knowing which level would have the highest chance towards generating potions of strength!

The ladder has been updated with my character’s progress, and any tips to get my character up to speed is appreciated!

**Derakon** · March 26, 2019, 05:17

I would not consider any of those three items to be a particularly high-value purchase, but on the flipside, money does you no good if you're dead. The Potion of *Healing* is a great item to have...for the final fights, and maybe as a panic button in the late game. For your depth, though, Potions of Healing without the *s are more than adequate and a lot cheaper, if you can find them of course. The Bolts would be a good improvement of your offense if you're using a crossbow. It's up to you if the extra weight is worth the damage there. The Rod of Probing can be handy for newbies since it tells you what monsters can do (i.e. updates your monster memory), but it doesn't tell you anything you can't learn by reading spoilers or just giving yourself full monster memory would.

For stat potions, they just get more and more common as you get deeper. There's no magic depth where you suddenly start finding a lot more of them, in my experience. That said, all stat potions have the same generation chance, except for Potions of Augmentation (+1 to all stats), which are rarer.

Good luck!

**wizard44** · March 26, 2019, 10:45

Well, this particular dive did not last too long, as I was forced to use all of my healing potions to get out of a hole caused by an apprentice summoning me next to some very nasty creatures on D:29.

Complete N00b’s Journey: Part 3-4

Tested out the crossbow, and I found out that the weight is still too heavy for me to carry even 40 bolts, so I stuck with the bow and bought 74 standard arrows. I ended up buying the potion of *Healing* for id purposes, and a scroll of Deep Descent to speed up my diving. I also bought 8 scrolls of Magic Mapping and left my staff of mapping at home to lighten the load. I then Recalled back to D:23, and read the scroll of descent to get me to D:28. I quickly got to level 23 by slaying a pack of energy hounds, and picked up a Copper-plated Rod, which turned out to be a rod of light. I descended to D:29, where I dispatched a group of black ogres and half-orcs to get an amulet of wisdom, which I drop. I also find an amulet of infravision and run into Sangahyandro and Agamaite of Umbar, which causes me to use up my potions of Cure Serious Wounds and Cure Critical wounds to deal with the two uniques, which get me to level 24 and drops a Hard Leather Cap of Wisdom [2,+10] <+2> as the only worthwhile item. An apprentice that summons me from offscreen REALLY caused me issues, as it put me right next to the black knight, forcing to use the rest of my potions, INCLUDING the potion of *Healing* to deal with his spells and escape. Left with no other choice, I had to do another Recall and leave behind quite a few things, including a wand that I never got to pick up and test. I did pick up the Set of Gauntlets ‘Paurhach’ (+5, +5) [3, +14], which gave me regeneration, but I couldn’t wear them due to the need for Free Action. Once back at the town, I use-id’d the staff of light and read-id’d a Scroll of Holy Chant. I then proceed to restock on my arrows and scrolls of phase door and buy up on all of the potions of Cure Critical wounds and Cure Serious Wounds that they had, which was 2 and 1 each. Cursing the overall bad luck of this run, I proceed to buy 7 potions of Cure Light Wounds and resolve to be less prone to avoiding fights. So yeah, I’m really not in a good place for further diving, and definitely do NOT feel that I should go any deeper than D:35 if I make it there at all.

So the next goal is just to get to D:35 and hopefully get potions of Strength or Brawn to fix my horrible strength score.

I try to avoid getting into fights, but I just somehow manage to run myself into some brutal ones due to low stealth, and shitty situations due to my low strength. I'm guessing a staff of Light is not necessary here?

The lack of speed potions or a staff of Speed is really screwing things over as well.

Any tips for me to get out of this mess is appreciated.

Complete N00b's Journey Character #3: Anwe, the Hobbit Warrior

Complete N00b's Journey Character #3: Anwe, the Hobbit Warrior

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