also Paladin WIP 4.2.1

[Sky]

tempted by the overpowered ability to cast Slay Evil on MoD extra attacks, i will venture into 4.2 again.
I might grind, i might not. It depends.

Dunadan Paladin, randarts, selling on, 6 STR 6 DEX 3 WIS 5 CON, base starting stats:
STR 18, INT 9, WIS 16, DEX 17, CON 18/20, 1.6 blows.
WHich means i won't be using stat swap potions. ugh. which means i won't dive. Oh well.

Ok, so.
DL1 - dead to a floating eye.


let's try again.

DL1 - i kill an ant and hit CL2 - 33hp (noice!) i kill some more small stuff, boldly read a scroll .. the air around me starts to swirl. Oh well.

DL6 - i survive a blue centipeded and reach CL3, 45hp. Not bad. I then kill a snake and hit CL4, hp60. Another ant is happy to sacrifice itself for the cause and i reach CL5, 68hp.
A couple of snagas run up to me; being a dunedain, my to hit bonus is considerable, which means even with 1.6 blows i can kill them, but, i wouldn't be able to kill orcs without a better weapon. CL6, 74hp.
Snagas obviously always come in packs, i am forced to quaff a CLW, but eventually kill them all, CL7 86hp.
I stumble in the dark, and enter a room with a purple mushroom, and a louse; as you can imagine, i am quickly swamped by louses. I push through to grab a magical (+2,+4) sling, and decide i will return to town - no diving until i ID Spd. .

DL5 - more louses, and a bunch of paladins hold me in a corridor, forcing me ot phase. I get away though.
All that louse-killing has taken me to CL9, 96hp.

DL4, DL3 - more louses. Jeez.

i finally come to the surface and find out i have not ID any potions of speed yet; i have precious little gear, but decide nonetheless to return via recall.

DL6 - infested with - you guessed it - louses.

DL7 - i ID ?aggravate and it pays enough xp to put me to CL10, 104hp. rawr.

DL8 - i accidentally into a whole bunch of soldiers and healers, who all succumb to my magical sling and store-bought ammo, and drop me a lantern. CL11, 112hp.

DL9 - kill a "blacklock mage" which costs me a CSW, and a whole bunch of lemures, who eat into my CLW reserve. My payoff is a rapier (+5,+2) which isnt great but slightly raises my damage. LF7-2 do i decide to descend.

DL10 - LF3-2

DL11 - i get into serious trouble. A whole group of blindness-casting gnome mages, a couple of spiders, and even a umber hulk. Using the wisdom of my many years of experience, i cast recall and GTFO of there.

[Sky]

DL11 - some rather uneventful exploring, i take a long time to kill two old forest trees, using a great deal of my sling ammo, prompting my next trip to carry an even larger stack.

DL12 - i accidentlaly kill Bullroarer while targeting some of his escorts, and he drops a magic crossbow, and a Star, without any stat boosts, but does A: mapping.

I sneak in an extra DL of depth before recalling - it's a LF9 anyway, and i dont feel like clearing insect pits. Stairs down, and then recall.

still no ID of speed potions, but i do upgrade my weapon to a pike of slay animals (+2,+8) and my launcher to a light crossbow (+4,+2). I discover that my star has rDisebchant and sDEX, but nothing else.

DL14, LF3-6

i kill grishnak and golfimbul, using my new crossbow. No drops from the one, and a miserable paid of magic sandals from the other.
I fight a ton of gnome mages, and at one point barely escape with my life when i run out of phase scrolls and a blackguard is tanking me. I burn through a ton of potions, not being able to rely on speed.
The -6 is a miserable chain mail [28,+3]

DL15

i get my ass kicked again by a bunch of blindness-casting mobs. Have rogues and illusionists been buffed? Looks like they have more hp now.
I do manage to scrounge a rod of treasure detection, finally.

DL15 - i find a longbow (+6,+6) and i immediately want to switch to it - i have two stacks of magical arrows at home. Arrows are also lighter then bolts, and i'm having weight problems, compounded by a red naga draining my STR.
In town, i buy a potion of Brawn, gain 1 STR, lose i WIS.

Back in the dungeon, i am attacked by a very large group of tigers and panthers - not the first time i see this, must be a special room. I burn a few phase and all my CLW. LF 4-4, CL20, 196hp, 25sp. I discover that the -4 is a scroll of destruction.

DL16 - cave level. I kill Orfax and he doesn't even have the decency to drop me an artifact. I do however reach CL21, 210hp and 26sp.



So, it looks like i only have one book to buy in town. I still have no Portal, no Sense Surroundings (although my light does that), obviously no Orb, no Remove Fear, no Slow Poison ...

DL17 - i recall in a certain-death situation (crabans, shriekers, hydras, ogres, and a breeder) and recall + phase immediately.

DL17 - i find a long corridor and a giant flea. In a matter of 2 to 3 minutes of gameplay i grind 4000xp, enough for two levelups, CL24, 241hp, 29sp.
The stairs are right next to me, and i get the LF3-1, so i go down.

DL18, LF7-?, i descent right next to a slime pit; i leave the pit alone, but not before a magic mushroom has time to phase out and start harassing me. At the same time two blackguards gank me in a corridor, and i have no teleport.
I recall to town.

I cannot imagine anyone playing this without the option of recall, because they would have been dead several times already.

DL19 - naught but cobwebs

DL20 LF5-3

i score immediately a whole bunch of wands and staves, plus other assorted sellable garbage, so i recall. My total haul is 3000gold.

DL20 LF5-2

I kill some trolls, for a decent xp payout, but no drops. Stairs.

DL21 - i get attacked by some clear hounds, and use my last TrueSeeing. Later on, i am again attacked by air hounds, and am forced to recall.

DL21 - LF3-5, i find a rod which i assume is a rod of light, but it turns out it's a rod of recall :/

DL21 - LF6-1

another level at a loss - gnome mages in the corner of a huge room, spam blind spells, summon phase spiders, umber hulks, and something that aggroes the orcs next door. recall, phase, and burn a lot of good potions.

DL21 - LF4-2

again nothing useful and far too dangerous mobs, i find Gorbag which i kill - using one of two precious potions of Spd i bought from BM - and get nothing for my trouble.
CL25 248hp 31sp.
With Portal i could have been 5 dungeon levels lower.
The only good news comes from town, where i find a ring of STR +2 from the BM.

DL21 - yep.
Again a spam of blindness-casting mobs. LF4-2.
I guess ill just rest-spam until the armorer has a helm of seeing. Which i do, and dont find.
Instead i get two full stacks of decent arrows, 7 more potions of Spd, and 20-odd CSW and CCW.

[Sky]

i recall several times without much progress; i find a helm of pBlind. After being without teleport, without anything that does damage (currently maxing out at 25 vs all), no speed, no offensive spells, and no way to ding into vaults (forcing me to abandon my first LF5-6, despite 2x Ring of STR and a 18lb weapon) i give in and scum the black market, resulting in a Crossbow Of The Haradrim.
I do find a great ring of the mouse (-0,-13) +4, which, for some strange reason, does not increase my damage, as i was previously explained.

I note that the ring of Open Wounds has gone waaaaaaay up in price, to 540 gold from the previous 40-ish.

My stats, before deciding to turn it off, are CL28, 295hp, 31sp.

[Sky]

uh ...

i died.

i don't know how, but a basilisk double-moved me and breathed poison on both moves.