More Newbie Help? Oh yeah.

[Big Al]

How is he supposed to tell the difference? He's a ranger. His pseudo won't tell him the difference between good and excellent, so he's going to have to ID everything good anyway. I wouldn't carry 80 ?ID, but I often do carry 30 or so as a ranger, and I might also keep the other 80 at home.

Well, if he's carrying around 80 ID scrolls, then I'm sure he has enough to id a lot of the {good} stuff he finds and see if it's excellent or not. That's was I was trying to say. Maybe I should have said ego instead of excellent to avoid the confusion.

[Djabanete]

How is he supposed to tell the difference? He's a ranger. His pseudo won't tell him the difference between good and excellent, so he's going to have to ID everything good anyway.

Yep.

And, if you still need money, throwing away a dagger of flame rather than selling it is just.. bad advice.

I said he should sell the Dagger of Flame and ditch the Dagger (+5,+5). Isn't that what you would do?

And Iding only things you "think" might be good is also terrible advice, IMHO.

I retract that advice. I had more or less forgotten how to play a Ranger.

[Funksultan]

Interesting stuff. I tried like hell to follow aeneas' thoughts, but they drifted from advice, to what mighta been sarcasm, to some mythical equasion that links posts to avatars. There might be something useful in it, but better to destroy the post, and see if there's an artifact in there.

Didn't play a ton, but made it through the weekend. Got some upgrades, but again, looking for more advice.

Dlvl 37, and the feeling of danger is just crippling. So many of the uniques and even regular mobs, some OOD, can rub me out without even trying. (Had an Ancient dragon actually bring me to 1 hp, yikes!). Hounds are EVERYWHERE and they eat my possessions like candy. I don't even give gravity hounds a chance, I just port away and scoot. I've already read too many horror stories.

The bow and the regular arrows just aren't getting it done, nor is melee. I need big damage, and I need it in a hurry. Even standard inhabitants are just taking way way to long to kill. What do I need to do? Will I be running from nearly everything for the rest of the game, or is my gear just that far behind?

Thanks!

D

[Angband 3.0.9b Character Dump]

Name Elric VI Self RB CB EB Best
Sex Male Age 115 STR: 18/30 +1 +2 +0 18/60
Race High-Elf Height 89 INT: 15 +3 +2 +0 18/20
Class Ranger Weight 203 WIS: 9 -1 +0 +1 9
Title Guide Status 33 Dex: 17 +3 +1 +0 18/30 18/20
HP 377/377 Maximize Y CON: 18/73 +1 +1 +0 18/93
SP 38/38 CHR: 15 +5 +1 +0 18/30

Level 29 Armor [29,+40] Saving Throw Superb
Cur Exp 156872 Fight (+7,+8) Stealth Superb
Max Exp 156872 Melee (+15,+16) Fighting Superb
Adv Exp 172500 Shoot (+16,+8) Shooting Legendary
MaxDepth Lev 37 Blows 4/turn Disarming Excellent
Turns 723735 Shots 3/turn Magic Device Heroic
Gold 50061 Infra 40 ft Perception Superb
Burden 201.4 lbs Speed 2 Searching Superb

You are one of several children of a Telerin Ranger. You have light
grey eyes, wavy blond hair, and a fair complexion.



abcdefghijkl@ abcdefghijkl@
Acid:........+.... Blind:.............
Elec:......+.+.... Confu:.............
Fire:........+.... Sound:.............
Cold:........+.... Shard:........+....
Pois:............. Nexus:.............
Fear:............. Nethr:.............
Lite:............+ Chaos:.............
Dark:............. Disen:.............

abcdefghijkl@ abcdefghijkl@
S.Dig:............. Stea.:........+....
Feath:............. Sear.:....+........
PLite:............. Infra:.............
Regen:............. Tunn.:.............
Telep:............. Speed:..+..........
Invis:............+ Blows:.............
FrAct:..........+.. Shots:.+...........
HLife:............. Might:.............


[Character Equipment]

a) The Dagger 'Nimthanc' (2d4) (+8,+8)
It cannot be harmed by the elements. It might have hidden powers.
b) a Long Bow of Extra Shots (x3) (+9,+8) (+1)
It increases your shooting speed by 1.
c) an Aquamarine Ring of Speed (+3)
It increases your speed by 3.
d) a Beryl Ring of Slaying (+5,+5)
e) a Mother-of-Pearl Amulet of Searching (+6)
It increases your searching by 6.
f) The Phial of Galadriel
It usually provides light of radius 3. It cannot be harmed by the
elements. It might have hidden powers.
g) Metal Scale Mail of Resist Lightning (-2) [13,+11]
It provides resistance to lightning. It cannot be harmed by
electricity.
h) a Cloak [1,+6]
i) a Small Metal Shield of Elvenkind [3,+11] (+2 to stealth)
It increases your stealth by 2. It provides resistance to acid,
lightning, fire, cold, and shards. It cannot be harmed by the
elements.
j) an Iron Helm of Wisdom [5,+2] (+1)
It increases your wisdom by 1. It sustains your wisdom.
k) a Set of Leather Gloves of Free Action [1,+3]
It grants you immunity to paralysis.
l) a Pair of Metal Shod Boots [6,+5]


[Character Inventory]

a) 3 Books of Magic Spells [Magic for Beginners]
b) 2 Books of Magic Spells [Conjurings and Tricks]
c) 3 Books of Magic Spells [Incantations and Illusions]
d) a Grey Mushroom of Cure Blindness
e) 21 Metallic Blue Potions of Heroism
f) 16 Coagulated Crimson Potions of Cure Critical Wounds
g) a Blue Potion of Healing
h) a Red Speckled Potion of Restore Mana
i) 6 Scrolls titled "izzy sumquae" of Word of Recall
j) 69 Scrolls titled "hicto so dio" of Identify
k) 13 Scrolls titled "so ga pludam" of Holy Chant
l) a Tin-Plated Rod of Fire Bolts
m) a Runed Rod of Cold Balls
n) 2 Rusty Wands of Teleport Other (20 charges)
o) a Runed Staff of Teleportation (4 charges)
p) a Pine Staff of Object Location (0 charges)
q) an Eucalyptus Staff of Speed (6 charges)
r) a Topaz Ring of Acid [+14]
It provides resistance to acid. It activates for acid resistance
(20+d20 turns) and acid ball (70) every 50+d50 turns. It cannot be
harmed by acid.
s) an Adamant Amulet of Regeneration
It speeds your regeneration.
t) a Large Leather Shield [4,+3]
u) a Scimitar (2d5) (+7,+7)
v) 94 Arrows (1d4) (+0,+0)


[Home Inventory]

a) a Black Spotted Mushroom of Restoring
b) 4 Red Speckled Potions of Restore Mana
c) 4 Puce Potions of Restore Strength
d) 4 Tangerine Potions of Restore Intelligence
e) 3 Brown Potions of Restore Wisdom
f) a Dark Red Potion of Restore Dexterity
g) 4 Green Speckled Potions of Restore Constitution
h) 3 Purple Speckled Potions of Restore Charisma
i) a Pink Potion of Self Knowledge
j) 2 Scrolls titled "mio his" of *Identify*
k) 60 Scrolls titled "spes chrum" of Enchant Armor
l) 54 Scrolls titled "reheme se ago" of Enchant Weapon To-Hit
m) 76 Scrolls titled "abillus" of Enchant Weapon To-Dam
n) 32 Scrolls titled "plevisco mulum" of Recharging
o) a Runed Staff of Teleportation (5 charges)
p) a Jasper Ring of Free Action
It grants you immunity to paralysis.
q) an Emerald Ring of Accuracy (+7)
r) a Set of Leather Gloves of Agility [1,+7] (+4)
It increases your dexterity by 4.
s) The Lance of Eorlingas (3d8) (+13,+21) (+2)
It increases your strength and dexterity by 2. It increases your
speed by 2. It cannot be harmed by the elements. It might have
hidden powers.
t) a Heavy Crossbow of Extra Might (x4) (+9,+15) (+1)
It increases your shooting power by 1.
u) 23 Bolts (1d5) (+6,+5)

[will_asher]

Dlvl 37, and the feeling of danger is just crippling. So many of the uniques and even regular mobs, some OOD, can rub me out without even trying. (Had an Ancient dragon actually bring me to 1 hp, yikes!). Hounds are EVERYWHERE and they eat my possessions like candy. I don't even give gravity hounds a chance, I just port away and scoot.

That's exactly what you should do and not just for gravity hounds.

The bow and the regular arrows just aren't getting it done, nor is melee. I need big damage, and I need it in a hurry. Even standard inhabitants are just taking way way to long to kill. What do I need to do? Will I be running from nearly everything for the rest of the game, or is my gear just that far behind?

Answer: you will be running from nearly everything for the rest of the game.

[Pete Mack]

there's not much you can do. Until you get your dex and str a bit higher, you won't be able to do big melée damage. At that point Eorlingas will do a lot better than dethanf. Until you get a better bow and/or Tensers and/or reach cl 40, you won't do much better with the bow. That said, mage book 5 will let you last much longer in ranges combat with elemental breathers. It is native to 2000'.

[Funksultan]

So, it sounds like I'm just gonna be hanging around the 1500-1700 levels, picking up what gear I can and (hopefully) keep raking in stat gain potions? I'm afraid if I keep diving down, I won't be able to kill anything at all, and will be in the "see a monster, port away, see a monster, port away" routine constantly.

Yet another question: I have some elemental hijinks that I'll use here and there for killing multi-mobs.. rod of acid balls, wand of fire bolts, cold ball spell, etc, etc. I know these things can wreck gear sitting on the ground, but if I kill a mob with it and he drops gear, is that gear still intact?

Pits are everywhere. It's highly annoying. Maybe I should just hit town a buncha times and load up with enough ?+hit ?+dam to give me a stack of +9,+9 arrows. With the mobs I've been seeing lately though, I don't even think that'll make a big difference. :P

[PowerDiver]

I have some elemental hijinks that I'll use here and there for killing multi-mobs.. rod of acid balls, wand of fire bolts, cold ball spell, etc, etc. I know these things can wreck gear sitting on the ground, but if I kill a mob with it and he drops gear, is that gear still intact?

The items do not exist at the time of the kill, only after, so are not harmed. Anything on the ground from a previous kill can be affected by a ball attack, but not a bolt attack.

[Slick]

- as soon as you are at the level for "haste self" Buy and use the last magic book. It has "Haste Self" which is essential.

- Enchant your bow to +9, +9.

- Enchant all your armor to at least +9

- At dlevel 37 you should be able to get better shoes

- ditch the amulet of searching. Rangers can use spells "mah" and "mab" for situational awareness; use mcb to disarm/unlock traps/chests/doors. at dlevel 37, there are better amulets. Until then, the amulet of regen is MUCH better to wear. mca will keep you out of food problems.

- I prefer rings of damage to rings of slaying because rod's generally have higher +dam ratings.

- at dlevel 37 there is probably are better hats too. Rangers don't really need wisdom. until then, enchant it to +9.

[Pete Mack]

see a monster, port away is how to win the game. You should only be killing a fraction of the monsters you see. Some you ignore, some you evade, some to TA, and some to run from in terror, possibly leaving the level.

[PowerDiver]

Rangers can use spells "mah" and "mab" for situational awareness; use mcb

Using any of those will get you killed eventually. Inscribe your books and use m1h, m1b, m3b instead.

[Funksultan]

Using any of those will get you killed eventually. Inscribe your books and use m1h, m1b, m3b instead.

?? Why are those dangerous? A missing key might spell doom?

[pampl]

?? Why are those dangerous? A missing key might spell doom?

If acid or fire destroy your first stack of books then you'll accidentally cast some spell from the second stack. It's especially dangerous with macros

[Funksultan]

If acid or fire destroy your first stack of books then you'll accidentally cast some spell from the second stack. It's especially dangerous with macros

Heheh, I never woulda thought of that, and I mab and mah all the time, and mac and mad quite often too. I'll bet this knowledge just saved my life. If not now, then later for sure. *grin*

D

[Narvius]

In fact, I do inscribe my books, but still use ma*, mb* and so on. I just can't break that habit...

[Pete Mack]

it's not really a problem unless you decide to leave mb2, pb1, or pb3 at home. Otherwise the usual problem is to cast teleport level instead of ID when clearing a vault prior to recalling home. D'oh!