Best way to keep your valuables safe from fire and acid?

[protopulse]

So...in a recent game of mine, I thought it would be a brilliant idea to toss my gloves of the forge across the room and into the wall when a ruby serpent came into view. Flammable things don't like fire after all. Instead of keeping them safe, I personally guaranteed their destruction. My gloves fell apart the instant it came in contact with that wall. Obviously, that wasn't the right approach.

Even if you just drop them, there's a chance more monsters than you first expected would show up. And you often don't get a chance to cherry pick where to store your possessions in the heat of battle (unless it's a type of monster that does not chase you when you're out of it's LoS).

Is there some trick I'm not seeing? Any tips to make my life easier when facing rauko uniques, firebreathing serpents and drakes, and creeping horrors are welcome.

[Patashu]

I think that the LESS elemental damage you take, the lower a chance you have of your items being destroyed. (At least that's how it works in Angband, so it wouldn't surprise me that Sil is similar.)

Other than that, of course if an item is both on the floor AND far away from the battle, it is safe. But this is risky, as swarms of monsters or a bad encounter can force you to flee a level at any point, and after that your items will be lost.

Finally, running away from/stealthing around enemies that you can't bear to fight should always be considered. Sprinting and/or Listen and/or Stealth investment are all useful here.

[Derakon]

I think that the LESS elemental damage you take, the lower a chance you have of your items being destroyed. (At least that's how it works in Angband, so it wouldn't surprise me that Sil is similar.)

The specific rule in Angband is that if you take elemental damage <33 HP worth, then each susceptible item in your pack has a 1% chance to be destroyed; <66HP it's 2%; above that it's 3%. Presumably this rule was altered somehow for Sil since the HP scale is completely different.

[wobbly]

Having rfire or rcold definitely makes a difference. Not sure if shields vs fire & cold breathers help or just reduce the damage, I think so? Probably anything that reduces damage.

Against acid gauntlets of the forge will survive better then gloves (if you're wearing them, not if their in the pack) but the biggest aid against the creeping horrors is big lights. They need to hit to trash your gear & they've got a big bonus if you can't see them & a penalty if your light radius is large. Also slow. Ideally fight it 1 on 1 & never let it have a chance to hit. Or with an elf just move far enough away for it to stop following & fill it full of arrows, you don't need to see it to shoot it, as long as you know where it is. Technically you can still do that with a dwarf too, I just prefer not to use a bow on the dwarf where possible.

Oh & against balrogs, ringrauko & snow trolls, high evasion & melee are the best protection for obvious reasons. Or shooting them. The less they are hitting you...

[ripforareason]

For fire/cold users: Have resistance. Don't worry about any of your items except staff of revelations or treasures.
For acid users: Drop your corrodables, staff of revelations, and staff of treasures. Have a good light radius, creeping horrors are fairly weak so you can kill them even with lower protection.

[debo]

There's hardly anything left that does acid damage. I can't remember ever getting corroded in 1.3, horrors are easy enough to run from.

Fire is always problematic, but stacking resists against it helps quite a lot. I don't remember the exact math of how this works, but if you have any resistance at all, dropping flammables to save them seems more risky than just keeping it on you against breathers, at least.

[protopulse]

I don't take stealth usually (just don't have the XP to fit it into my builds), and I don't take stairs back often. Last time I did that was months ago...I just don't like the playstyle that goes along with it (i.e. reshuffling levels at will if the layout isn't to your liking). You miss out artefacts and forges that way too. Might change my mind once I start playing more pacifist builds.

So for creeping horrors, I can kite them around since they're slow, but I can't kite them around forever. I guess I'll just grab at least 3 light and shoot them once every other turn. Or take up polearm mastery if I find a good polearm and kite them out that way (but the odds of find a good polearm are slim to none).

"Creeping horrors are fairly weak so you can kill them even with lower protection."

Are they? They have (+18,3d10) offense...that's basically Delthaur with 2 less melee. [13,2d4] defense isn't all that shabby either. I very rarely melee them so I could be wrong but I thought I'd get demolished in a 1 on 1 melee fight.

"Against acid gauntlets of the forge will survive better then gloves" Didn't know that was the case.

Seems the consensus against fire/cold damage is just resist.

"Dropping flammables to save them seems more risky than just keeping it on you"

I'll do that from now on and see how it goes. I usually have rFire by the time I'm meeting sapphire serpents. And cold breath/damage doesn't affect gear afaik, only potions.

[ripforareason]

There's hardly anything left that does acid damage. I can't remember ever getting corroded in 1.3, horrors are easy enough to run from.

Fire is always problematic, but stacking resists against it helps quite a lot. I don't remember the exact math of how this works, but if you have any resistance at all, dropping flammables to save them seems more risky than just keeping it on you against breathers, at least.

How do you figure? You just run behind a door, shut the door, drop your rev staff around a corner, and then continue fighting in the case of serpents. For dragons, they don't pursue you, so you can stash your staves in a safe location. Personally, I find that I get corroded or lose important items a lot, so I find it useful to drop them.

[Pete Mack]

Trap doors, presumably.

[wobbly]

I generally lose a few staves to breathers in a game. This would be more annoying if it didn't solve the decision of what to drop to fit something else in to my inventory. I guess do it if the item is really crucial? I don't know, I like to be carrying stuff I need if I suddenly need to do the barney & leave the level.

Edit: Plus all it takes is a Kemenrakuo joining the frey & earthquaking you to have the item buried.

[protopulse]

What happens if the item gets buried? Can you still dig it out? Or is it gone for good? If getting buried protects it from breath attacks, then that doesn't sound all that bad.

[Pete Mack]

Obliterated, just like any other 'band.

[captnamazing]

when fighting serpents, I time an attack between their breath, then run back out and wait for the next one before going in...