Sil Builds/Challenges/Concepts/Stupid-Ascension-Tricks

[half]

So in HM's comment in my last dump, he challenged me to create a build that focused on Channeling. Given that I didn't even realize that Channeling was an ability (!), I used SilScraper and "ls *.dmp | xargs grep '(Channeling)' | wc -l" to discover that 21 other ladder characters had previously decided to buy this ability.

I am astonished. Why would you even bother? Has anyone here used it to reasonable effect before???????

I'm not sure if it is any good. The idea is more as something for people who want to use staffs but not invest in Will than as something for specialists. Think of it as 500 exp to get 5 points of Will (which can only be used in one, not particularly useful way!). It might work well with a non song based stealth build to get Morgoth to sleep. How much Will do you need to do this with a staff? Well, it is 5 less if you get channelling, which could be a saving of a lot of experience (though only if you don't get many other Will abilities).

[debo]

So in HM's comment in my last dump, he challenged me to create a build that focused on Channeling. Given that I didn't even realize that Channeling was an ability (!), I used SilScraper and "ls *.dmp | xargs grep '(Channeling)' | wc -l" to discover that 21 other ladder characters had previously decided to buy this ability.

I am astonished. Why would you even bother? Has anyone here used it to reasonable effect before???????

[HallucinationMushroom]

I wouldn't be a good bad influence if I didn't persuade you to play Sil at least little bit. I'd like to think I was a bad influence, anyway, considering my ridiculous forum name.

If I could find a little time I would like to try an '8' skill challenge, but mainly from inspiration from your Hador idea Debo. That being, worry less about surviving, worry more about killing... if I'm reading your build correctly.

That being said, does concentration work with continual flanking attacks? Edit: Yes, Through experimentation I can confirm this.

[debo]

FYI starting Feanor 4/3/3/3 and gradually working to momentum and the rest is a less extreme, super fun build (re: the Hador one). Artistry start works well with this one. Holy heck does stuff die fast.

Not that I would know personally, of course...

[andrey]

Nice idea for Hador. Just tried it out. Died at 400Ft from a critical hit

[jujuben]

This Hador start is certainly fun, but leads to a lot of frustrating insta-deaths. Does will affect the chance to move in the correct direction while confused? I ask because a brown mold in a corridor just killed my latest attempt (still at will 1), after no less than *seven* failed attempts to retreat in a row...

[debo]

Good luck with your Hador. You know, everytime I see an item of Hador's house, or a Hador character, all I can think is... HODOR HODOR HODOR HODOR HODOR HODOR. HODOR? HODOR!!!

I'm back to the straight and narrow. I hope someone actually good at Sil will try it out lol

[HallucinationMushroom]

Good luck with your Hador. You know, everytime I see an item of Hador's house, or a Hador character, all I can think is... HODOR HODOR HODOR HODOR HODOR HODOR. HODOR? HODOR!!!

[debo]

What about Sprinting? Sprinting is a like a free Potion of Speed, after going 4 turns in one direction.

Might be useful! I rarely take sprinting anymore -- I consider it more of a nice-to-have now, whereas before it was more of a necessity for me. It generally just helps me get into worse trouble, faster

[HugoVirtuoso]

What about Sprinting? Sprinting is a like a free Potion of Speed, after going 4 turns in one direction.

[debo]

I took a 30 min break from videogameless conduct to try out this fun build idea:

Edain Hador 4/2/2/1

Put 9 (!) points into melee, take Charge and Momentum right off the bat. That's it.

Stupid? Yes. Fun? YES!

Longswords and bastard swords have been great for this, but even spears are handy if nothing else is showing up.

Most of the early monsters are easy to outmaneuver so that they rarely get a swing at you. It's not until archers start showing up in the dark that you actually need stuff -- i.e. getting a shield and some decent armor. With a shield + enough XP to get blocking, you will be set for a while.

I've also found those bell-things (the name is totally slipping my mind right now for some reason) to be nasty with only 1 Gra, but that's at least manageable if you have a good memory.

Edit: This is something I sort of tried to pull off with Belegost dwarves -- their extra con was handy, but the dex penalty was actually really hard to get over. The melee proficiency + base 0 dex actually makes this a bit easier, I think. I also usually play the first 500' Con-drained by a point or two (I hate taking keen senses) and getting drained with low Con is actually not that big a deal b/c you only lose like 4 base HP when your Con is so low to start with

Edit2: Tried a few more times. This is legit hard. I think this is sort of what WildKhaine used to do (start with 0 evasion and then slowly add to it) but shit is it hard. You really aren't allowed to miskey at all!

Edit3: Spears are actually insane if luck is with you. I've been hitting like 3d15 or 4d15 with good crits on a charge

Edit4: Deepest I've made it so far was 400'. Things started getting easier then (had 10 base evasion) but turned a corner into a giant and was unluckily instakilled

Edit5: Finding heavy armor on 150' is a huge help (corslet or hauberk) -- archers are a lot easier to deal with, given some footwork.

Edit6: Where I really want to go with this build is Dodging -> Flanking, and Finesse + Sublety + ZoC with a good deathblade. 3.0lb + 6 strength = xd15, and I'm sure I get easily get 3 or 4 crits per blow that way. Problem is I don't think many deathblades get that heavy. Makes charge kinda useless but +3 to hit is nothing to sneeze at anyhow!

[HallucinationMushroom]

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=13988

Here's mine! I had fun with mine... not entirely sure why I never tried it again. If I took your take on it, that is, just having a bar of 10, I probably could do better off neglecting some of the skills I have no experience in, like stealth, archery, etc.

[clouded]

I'm not familiar with the "red mage" meme, but yes, that looks pretty much exactly like what I had in mind, except I don't really care about "balance", just "max".

Red Mage was a class in the older Final Fantasy games, it is the jack-of-all-trades class, being able to cast low level spells of most types of magic and having melee capacity (and being bad at all of those things, of course).

Keeping all skills balanced was a bad idea... it's really not fun to try and play the early game with 3 in melee/evasion, let me tell you!

[bron]

There have been a few red mage attempts

I'm not familiar with the "red mage" meme, but yes, that looks pretty much exactly like what I had in mind, except I don't really care about "balance", just "max".

[clouded]

There have been a few red mage attempts, here is mine: http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=13997

It is maybe the worst death I've had in Sil, death to poison on 950ft with 21 combined healing items. I didn't use smithing much, instead using a lot of perception, which is a typical strategy of mine. It's a lot easier than no magic, that is for sure, not much harder than playing normally I think.