Robe of Permanence or Black Dragon Scale?

[ElectricPaladin]

I am so dead.

The RNG has seen fit to grant this character BOTH a Robe of Permanence and a set of Black Dragon Scale armor. The RNG giveth, and the RNG taketh (everything) away, but in the mean time, which am I to wear?

(And here's the file)

By the way, does anyone know how to do the thing where the character sheet appears in the forum window, rather than as an attachment you all need to download?

[PaulBlay]

By the way, does anyone know how to do the thing where the character sheet appears in the forum window, rather than as an attachment you all need to download?

You mean this?

  [Angband 3.1.0 beta Character Dump]

 Sex    Male         Age             18   STR:     14  -1  +2  +0     15
 Race   Kobold       Height          39   INT:     16  -1  +1  +0     16
 Class  Rogue        Weight          72   WIS:     12  +0  -2  +2     12
 Title  Filcher      Social     Unknown   DEX:     15  +2  +3  +7  18/90
 HP     248/248      Maximize         Y   CON:     16  +2  +1  +0  18/10
 SP     30/30                             CHR:     13  -2  -1  +0     10


 Level               27   Armor    [13,+61]     Saving Throw         56%
 Cur Exp          45049   Fight     (+5,+7)     Stealth           Superb
 Max Exp          45049   Melee   (+14,+16)     Fighting          Superb
 Adv Exp          49000   Shoot   (+14,+11)     Shooting          Superb
 MaxDepth   1150' (L23)   Blows      1/turn     Disarming            99%
 Turns          1381050   Shots      1/turn     Magic Device      Superb
 Gold             11349   Infra       50 ft     Perception       1 in 11
 Burden       118.8 lbs   Speed          -1     Searching            47%

 You come from a litter of 6 pups. Your father was a warrior, and your
 mother was a cook. You have dark brown eyes, an olive green hide, and
 large, sharp teeth.


 Acid:......+.+.... Confu:...........+.
 Elec:......+.+.... Sound:........+....
 Fire:......+.+.... Shard:.............
 Cold:......+.+.... Nexus:.............
 Pois:............+ Nethr:...........+.
 Fear:......+...... Chaos:...........+.
 Lite:............. Disen:.............
 Dark:............. S.Dig:.............
Blind:............. Feath:.............

PLite:............. Aggrv:.............
Regen:.........+... Stea.:........+....
Telep:............. Sear.:.............
Invis:............. Infra:............+
FrAct:...........+. Tunn.:.............
HLife:......+...... Speed:.............
ImpHP:............. Blows:.............
ImpSP:............. Shots:.............
 Fear:............. Might:.+...........


  [Character Equipment]

a) a Trident of *Slay Orc* (1d10) (+9,+9) (+2)
     +2 dexterity.
     Sustains dexterity.
     With this weapon, you would currently get 1 blow per round,
     averaging a damage of 32.5 against orcs, and 21.5 against normal
     creatures.
b) a Sling of Extra Might (x2) (+9,+11) (+1)
     +1 shooting power.
c) a Jet Ring of Damage (+0,+7)
d) an Emerald Ring of Protection [+10]
e) a Driftwood Amulet of Wisdom (+2)
     +2 wisdom.
     Sustains wisdom.
f) The Phial of Galadriel
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     When activated, it lights up the surrounding area, hurting light-s
     ensitive creatures.
     It takes 10 turns to recharge after use.
     Radius 3 light.
g) a Robe of Permanence [2,+19]
     Provides resistance to acid, lightning, fire, cold, fear.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     Sustains strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, constitution, 
     charisma.
     Stops experience drain.
h) a Cloak [1,+0] (squelch)
i) a Leather Shield of Elvenkind [6,+7] (+2 stealth)
     +2 stealth.
     Provides resistance to acid, lightning, fire, cold, sound.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
j) a Hard Leather Cap of Regeneration [2,+5]
     Speeds regeneration.
k) (nothing)
l) The Pair of Leather Boots 'Dal-i-thalion' [2,+15] (+5)
     +5 dexterity.
     Provides resistance to confusion, nether, chaos.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     Sustains constitution.
     Prevents paralysis.
     When activated, it cures you of fear and poison.
     It takes 5 turns to recharge after use.


  [Character Inventory]

a) a Book of Magic Spells [Magic for Beginners]
b) a Book of Magic Spells [Conjurings and Tricks]
c) a Book of Magic Spells [Incantations and Illusions]
d) 10 Azure Potions of Cure Critical Wounds
e) a Clotted Red Potion of Healing
f) a Scroll titled "lexor vitus" of Teleport Level
g) a Scroll titled "ulpatus pus" of Word of Recall
h) a Scroll titled "culaego puro" of Deep Descent
i) a Pewter Rod of Fire Balls
j) a Cast Iron Rod of Cold Balls
k) a Mithril-Plated Rod of Acid Balls
l) a Molybdenum Rod of Curing
     Cannot be harmed by electricity.
m) a Brass Wand of Scare Monster (7 charges)
n) a Gold Wand of Stone to Mud
o) 3 Mithril Wands of Teleport Other (24 charges)
p) a Bamboo Staff of Teleportation (2 charges)
q) Black Dragon Scale Mail (-2) [30,+16]
     Provides resistance to acid.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     When activated, it creates an acid ball with damage 125.
     It takes d450+450 turns to recharge after use.
r) Hard Leather Armour of Elvenkind (-1) [8,+9] (+3 stealth)
     +3 stealth.
     Provides resistance to acid, lightning, fire, cold, fear.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
s) a Lucerne Hammer of Slay Dragon (2d5) (+7,+13)
     With this weapon, you would currently get 1 blow per round,
     averaging a damage of 38 against dragons, and 26 against normal
     creatures.
t) 18 Rounded Pebbles of Venom (1d2) (+4,+6)
     Fired from your current missile launcher, this arrow will hit targets
     up to 120 feet away, inflicting an average damage of 166.5 against
     poison-vulnerable creatures, and 55.5 against normal creatures.
     25% chance of breaking upon contact.
u) 22 Iron Shots (1d4) (+5,+3)
     Fired from your current missile launcher, this arrow will hit targets
     up to 120 feet away, inflicting an average damage of 49.5 against
     normal creatures.
     25% chance of breaking upon contact.


  [Home Inventory]

a) 3 Books of Magic Spells [Magic for Beginners]
b) 3 Books of Magic Spells [Conjurings and Tricks]
c) a Book of Magic Spells [Incantations and Illusions]
d) 4 Scrolls titled "ulpatus pus" of Word of Recall
     When read, it returns you from the dungeon or takes you to the dun
     geon after a short delay.
e) a Jade Ring of Strength (+2)
     +2 strength.
     Sustains strength.
     
f) an Alexandrite Ring of Slow Digestion
     Slows your metabolism.
     


  [Options]

Maximize effect of race/class bonuses        : yes (adult_maximize)
Randomize some of the artifacts (beta)       : no  (adult_randarts)
Restrict the use of stairs/recall            : no  (adult_ironman)
Restrict the use of stores/home              : no  (adult_no_stores)
Restrict creation of artifacts               : no  (adult_no_artifacts)
Don't stack objects on the floor             : no  (adult_no_stacking)
Lose artifacts when leaving level            : no  (adult_no_preserve)
Don't generate connected stairs              : no  (adult_no_stairs)
Adult: Monsters chase current location       : yes (adult_ai_sound)
Adult: Monsters chase recent locations       : yes (adult_ai_smell)
Adult: Monsters act smarter in groups        : yes (adult_ai_packs)
Adult: Monsters learn from their mistakes    : no  (adult_ai_learn)
Adult: Monsters exploit players weaknesses   : no  (adult_ai_cheat)
Adult: Monsters behave more intelligently (broken): no  (adult_ai_smart)
Score: Peek into object creation             : no  (score_peek)
Score: Peek into monster creation            : no  (score_hear)
Score: Peek into dungeon creation            : no  (score_room)
Score: Peek into something else              : no  (score_xtra)
Score: Know complete monster info            : no  (score_know)
Score: Allow player to avoid death           : no  (score_live)

That's just the [CODE] tag. (You need to close it with a [/CODE as well).

Obviously I can't type the last ] on the closing tag or you wouldn't be able to see it. ;-)

[Mondkalb]

As long as you don't have see invisble the robe protects you from ghosts and other undead which can reduce stats.
The breath activation of the DSM may be useful but it is also quite heavy and your STR is probably not high enough for the weight.

[ElectricPaladin]

As long as you don't have see invisble the robe protects you from ghosts and other undead which can reduce stats.
The breath activation of the DSM may be useful but it is also quite heavy and your STR is probably not high enough for the weight.

I checked it out, and I can safely wear the DSM without losing spell efficiency, though it is pretty heavy. I agree that I should shelve it for now. I won't sell it, though. I'll hang on to it until I have See Invisible and have quaffed a few !Strengths.

Any second opinions?

[Zikke]

I agree that shelving it for now would be best. If while stealthing around you see a unique or something else that could use a good blast from the ole' DSM, then you can always put it on and use it, but for running around there are way too many undeads and other nasties that will reduce your stats regularly.

[Donald Jonker]

Also consider the DSM's failure rate (test it out a bit in town). It may be decent w/ a rogue, but every time I've found one my char's either been too young to use it efficiently or old enough to have better equip lying around. A standard DSM's window of usefulness is very small. The robe, on the other hand, will become very useful if you find, say, Thorin. I'd sell the DSM the second you find yourself in need of funds.

[Nolendil]

I had the same kind of choice with my current character with a Blue DSM and I kept the Robe of Permanence because I didn't really need the activation and prefered to have sustains.
However, I'm not a good player so my opinion is not worth much

[Pete Mack]

Black DSM doesn't do you much good -- sell it for whatever you can get. The robe of permanence, even with a lousy random resist like RFear, is better.

[ElectricPaladin]

Black DSM doesn't do you much good...

Yeah, I'm seeing that. The refresh rate is so slow...

[Mondkalb]

Sometimes an early bronze dragon scale male can be nice because of rconf.
The occasional breath is not that much useful but for rangers or rogues with lack of ball spells it is not all bad. It makes it easy to get rid of a room full of breeders.
As long as you don't have any better armor any DSM is better than nothing.
And it brings also a lot of money if the shopkeeper isn't too mean.