What was the item on your early x-9 level ?

[Estie]

Lvl 51, 9-?: the Ring of Power 'The One Ring' (+15,+15) <+5> {??}

Found lying on the floor in a vault at 2550 feet (level 51) - it was a small vault with 3 horizontal hallways, the entrances alternating.

I am not going to use it yet, of course.

[Estie]

I firmly believe that better tech should just be better.

I dont know about this. I prefer itemisation with some structure, humps and rough edges rather than liner streamline.
Heavy armor mana penalty is similar to heavy weapons. If you find a good heavy weapon early on, it is inferior to a to a dagger with fewer enchantments but low weight, but you still keep it to wield after stat gain.
So even a PDSM, when found early, is but a glorified rpoison swap with optimal play. I dont mind, as long as I can look forward to using it later when the detrimental effect gets mitigated.

As for debilitating mushrooms, I hadnt thought of that. If I manage to find a peaceful corner or go to town, I just press the button to rest.

[PowerDiver]

That sounds reasonable, but ... I think it would be interesting to try to make do with mushrooms of debility and potions of restore mana. Take off the armor, boost mana to max, cast some spells, rewield. Maybe you could manage that 10 times or so against the most lucrative foes. I'm probably crazy, but I save and buy if available every mushroom of debility until my mana is high enough not to care. I've been waiting for a situation like yours, but have never had a chance to try out this scenario. The recharge times for DSM have been drastically reduced. That might help make this more viable.

Perhaps I should mod the code I play to drastically reduce the weight of DSMs. I firmly believe that better tech should just be better. An iPhone is easier to use than an IBM 360. E.g. I think deeper items should be *easier* to activate, not harder to use. I think you've pushed me over the edge, and I'll need to mod before my next game.

[Estie]

You are morally required to read every scroll of deep descent you see, and squelching them is cheating!

I did no such thing

The problem was that my dwarf ranger had enjoyed all those alcoholic brawn/toughness potions and almost all of them lowered my wisdom, so when I donned that PDSM my mana pool was down to 20, just barely enough to cast my best spell. My weapons were abysmal for the depth (longbow +7 and melee damage 30ish), the only thing he had going for him was speed +10 from a RoS +6 and a randart ring with +4 speed and not much else - but that also meant that I couldnt use mouse rings so stealth wasnt great.
With such low damage, playing him like a warrior would have been painful and using spells meant resting a lot which is difficult to do in dangerous depth.

If I had wanted to dive, I would have done so without using the PDSM. Instead, I glued the thing to my chest and went onward slowly with a lot of rest breaks to regain mana.

Eventually I found a great xbow and then I went straight for the endfight.

https://angband.live/ladder/ladder-show.php?id=26384

[tprice]

On my Ranger that just won i found on turn 176 at DL1 Found the Dagger 'Nimthanc' ... Basically in the first room i entered in the dungeon, i think it was the first loot I saw. That carried me for a good while.

On my newest character I was on DL8 with my HE Mage and it was an 8-9 level!!! The Jelly Pit took a good while but i cleared it to find a bunch of junk and a iron chest with the Phial in it. But chest contents don't count towards level feeling so I kept exploring. In one corner of the level I found the classic 4 rectangular rooms room which once i cleared it had a couple of unseen potions among the loot. Infravision wasn't much but the OTHER potion was an OOD !Experience. I went from CL17 to 29 in one gulp!

[PowerDiver]

Lvl 36, 5-9: PDSM on the ground.

You are morally required to read every scroll of deep descent you see, and squelching them is cheating!

[Estie]

Lvl 36, 5-9: PDSM on the ground.

Replaced gold DSM of craftsmanship and is my first source of rpoison, among other things.

[Estie]

How did you know ?

[Nick]

Dlvl2, 2-9: RoS +10

You are so going to die

[Estie]

Dlvl2, 2-9: RoS +10

[backwardsEric]

Not an x-9 level, but Hengband, current development release, doled out the random artifact below rather than the typical mildly enchanted light crossbow as the reward for the "Warg problem" quest (completed at level 5 of the starting dungeon, "Yeek cave"):

The Light Crossbow of Zhuque (x3) (+12,+14)
It provides light (radius 1) forever.
It sustains your charisma.
It provides resistance to fire.
It provides resistance to nether.
It provides resistance to disenchantment.
It allows you to levitate.
It increases your resistance to curses.
It cannot be harmed by the elements.

[Grotug]

I just found [66, +24] Dwarven <+2> <+4> on DL33 in a vault. 9-9 level. Pretty swank. I can't wear it right now, though, 'cause I am wearing [20, +17] resistance.

[Ugramoth]

Bummer.
9-9 on level 35:
Pit full of bugs and a multi-hued scale mail. Expected something bit more exiting.

[Sky]

Green Dragon Scale Mail [Dwarven] +2 STR +2 CON on DL11. Not bad since i had already scored a shield of Resistance on DL7 (and didn't even notice).

[Ugramoth]

4-9 on level Dlvl 7: turned out to be more like x-18
Green Dragon Scale Mail on the floor and ROS +5 from a chest.

Beginner mage got quite a boost.