Problems with Unique monsters

[Arphod]

Well, I never suggested trying to kill him the first time I see him, not with a mage anyway..

I kill him the first time I see him. Or he kills me. I typically find and kill Worm within a half-hour of starting a mage. It marks the beginning of real play, i.e., the beginning of a dive to stat-gain, and the end of the annoying but necessary birth of a character.

He's pretty easy. I'm not sure what all the fuss is about.

[Hariolor]

I kill him the first time I see him. Or he kills me. I typically find and kill Worm within a half-hour of starting a mage. It marks the beginning of real play, i.e., the beginning of a dive to stat-gain, and the end of the annoying but necessary birth of a character.

He's pretty easy. I'm not sure what all the fuss is about.

He can be very easy. But, Slow + Stinking Cloud x2 = dead @

Usually the first couple times I bump into him, between say DL 5 and 15, I am way too weak to gamble on his behavior being benign.

[Arphod]

He can be very easy. But, Slow + Stinking Cloud x2 = dead @

Usually the first couple times I bump into him, between say DL 5 and 15, I am way too weak to gamble on his behavior being benign.

Noted. But if you prepare for the inevitable encounter around 500ft, and have the kit on-hand that I posted earlier, most importantly potions of speed, Worm slowing you is far less of a problem. Worm's slow only lasts for a few turns, anyway. Oh, and I believe I also said to have a few potions of cure critical wounds with you. If you take a stinking cloud in the face, you drink one. Then you're good. With a good bow, Worm won't be alive very long. Alternatively, if you have an ethical (or whatever) problem using a bow, then save wands of stinking cloud, maybe about 3. They work just fine, and they don't have a die roll in their damage, which means that Worm takes a set amount of hurt every time you shoot him. And he doesn't resist poison (v3.0.9b).

[Pete Mack]

Noted. But if you prepare for the inevitable encounter around 500ft, and have the kit on-hand that I posted earlier, most importantly potions of speed, Worm slowing you is far less of a problem. Worm's slow only lasts for a few turns, anyway.

The OP was talking about a fast (or non-slow) diving character. If you meet Wormtongue at cl 7, on your first or second dive, he's fairly a hard target.
The easiest thing to do then is to wait for him to come back later, when he's likely to drop something better anyway.

(In UnAngband, he shows up at dl 5 as a minor boss. And at cl ~5, he's pretty much impossible to kill without using a bit of guile and a lot of mushrooms.)