Next void diver attempt

[KesTheHammer]

Half ogre vampire sorcerer, got Necromancy offered several times (and used undead form twice already), and Symbiosis.

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=24762

Incredibly lucky (as per potion of self knowledge).

I've killed Morgoth by now, but I still don't have a cloak of air.

What are the best places to find one of those?

[Estie]

Greater vaults; sandworm lair works, also deep angband. It is a grind, resting till level feeling is refreshed, entering staircase, if superb feeling cast vision and eventually youll get a big checkerboard vault. In the sandworm lair, it contains mostly magey stuff like spellbooks and rods, but cloaks are also common.

[Yottle]

Are you going with the GWoP swarm approach? Symbiosis would be much more useful if you bumped up Monster-lore to 12 so you could turn pets into companions.

[KesTheHammer]

I don't have spare skill points anymore. But the Master Q symbiote summons 8 D's in a single turn. Usually at least one of them can summon themselves (Sky drake, Law, Chaos, Balance, Power). In the void (once I get there) there is enough space to summon many D's myself, the ability to make a single one GWoP into a companion is not so much better.

Anyway still searching for my cloak of air. I must say that my autmatiser file has become quite good. With armies of dragons fighting it out on a regular basis the sheer volume of treasure is insane.

[Yottle]

You don't need skill points to raise Monster-lore.

[KesTheHammer]

Please elaborate... How do I increase monster lore?

I thought the beast master quest increases corpse preservation.

[DrWho42]

good luck on the grind and finding the cloak of air!

[AnonymousHero]

Please elaborate... How do I increase monster lore?

I thought the beast master quest increases corpse preservation.

If you have no corpse preservation, it grants it.

Same for Monster-lore, but it also increases it even if you already have it.

Relevant bit of code: (from q_bounty.cc on my fork, probably looks a bit different in 2.3.5. I have not changed this mechanic in my fork -- very few mechanic details have been.)

	skill_type *lore = &s_info[SKILL_LORE];
	if (lore->mod == 0)
	{
		lore->mod = 900;
		lore->dev = true;
	}
	lore->value += lore->mod;

[fiery_mews]

Save your game before visiting the Beastmaster shop though IMO. I've often (but not reliably) had my game crash when entering that shop in 2.4.x git.

[KesTheHammer]

Scroll of artifact creation

Is it generally accepted that a mattock is one of the best items to use such a scroll on?

Should I read it on level 127 of angband to improve my probability of getting a kick-ass artifact?

Here is my character sheet:

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=24762

I have a pretty good staff of wizardry and mage staff artifacts are not guaranteed to increase both spell power and mana.

My other options are a balance dragon scale mail (I haven't yet found Power dragon scale mail), but here, I am not guaranteed to get a life multiplier.

Any other good ideas to use for randart? Maybe my ring of speed +16?

[Yottle]

I don't think it is possible to create a better digger than Nain. If you haven't found that yet you should soon.
The old advice was to use Artifact Creation on a ring of Lordly Resistance. Frankly I have never gotten anything worth using from one late in the game. If you want a bunch of artifacts go to the bottom of Angband and summon ancient dragons.

[Estie]

Definitely not mage staff, as youll be getting the mage staff of eternity soon.
And yes, digger is great for an early artifact but wont beat Nain.

No dragon armor, either; they cant get life multiplier.

I'd use on that = of speed +16; but do make a save; im 99,9% sure it wont reroll the speed value.

I would be very interested in what happens if you read the scroll on a cloak of air; my guess is that it will create a cloak without "air" property, but im not sure; so if you want to test that, definitely save and let me know.

[Yottle]

...
I would be very interested in what happens if you read the scroll on a cloak of air; my guess is that it will create a cloak without "air" property, but im not sure; so if you want to test that, definitely save and let me know.

I don't think it works on ego items.

[Estie]

Right; lordly protection is not an ego item for some reason, and speed is, correct ? And lordly protection can get at most +6 speed when artifacted, so not worthwhile.

In that case, I'd use it on a shield hoping for 4 immunities and reflection, or at least more of it than my current shield has. And yes, dont get your hopes up, you create artifact shields by the dozen in angband drops and chances are one of those will be the best.

[Yottle]

I am pretty sure ring of speed is not an ego item. It's easy to get artifacts based on them by looting a speed ring shop.