Advice for a lost newbie

[Big McStrongmuscle]

I'm relatively new to the game (only played for a couple of months now) and especially new to playing mages, and *extremely* new to playing mages with any degree of success. I'm just about as far in the dungeon as I've ever gotten, and I seem to have run out of objectives.

Executive Summary:

• I'm a level 24 High Elf Mage at 800'
• Have learned every spell my level can get from the four easy books; haven't found any of the others.
• Killed all the uniques that I know of (~a dozen) below Boldor. Boldor is the strongest one on my list so far, but remains elusive.
• Accumulated some terrific swag, especially a Ring of Ice. The 75-point Frost Ball invocation is nothing short of glorious.
• Found a couple of artifacts, and I think I've got most of their powers worked out, but I can't seem to find any *Identify* scrolls to make sure.
• Currently wielding an Bastard Sword of *Slay Demon* over Dethanc (the artifact dagger with lightning), both for an intelligence boost and because I rarely melee much of anything besides those bloody Tengu. Not sure if the intelligence boost actually helps anything.
• Also switching off between two pairs of artifact gauntlets. The 17 points of AC, a bolt invocation, and (I'm guessing) a resistance seemed worth the hit to spell power.
• Other than the food and the mushroom, the equipment in the dump file is pretty much exactly what I zap into the dungeon with.

I just found the Phial and learned Satisfy Hunger and Stone to Mud yesterday, so I can last for indefinite periods of time in the dungeon without a lot of supplies. Thing is, the monsters here seem to be just tough enough that most of the big monster groupings force me to retreat, so I'm a little hesitant to go all-out and Dive for Glory.

Basically I'm looking for something I can do besides aimlessly mill about hoping for a rare spell-book, gain ability potion or *Identify* scroll from the Black Market. Does anyone have any advice?

[Mondkalb]

The Gauntlets limit your spell points, I would'nt equip them as a mage.
Later you might find some artifact gloves or gloves of agility that don't have this drawback.

Also the sword is pretty heavy (it could slow you down if you carry more things found in the dungeon). You would loose the two points of INT but without the gauntlets this might turn out at least in the same amount of spell points. Wear Dethanc instead.

Buy potions of CCW, scrolls of phase door, teleportation, teleport level. Buy a wand of teleport other, if available.

The ring of DEX is nice but you may swap it to a ring of free action if you don't find any other source for that.

Identify the Paurnimmen to find out what they grant. You might keep them as a swap as long as you don't have armor of elvenkind or such.

Dive a little bit deeper (carfully! ) and you might find that ring of fa.

Buy another one of each spell book at least. You are helpless if one gets burned up buy a fire breath attack.

[Big McStrongmuscle]

!oCCWs and all flavors of teleport scrolls, check. Wand of Teleport Other might take awhile, but I'll keep an eye out. And spellbooks can burn up? Huh. That does makes the game trickier...

Also: I knew the Gauntlets were eating up some spell points, but I didn't realize just how many. Some good news, though: I just found some +2 Gloves of Free Action that don't seem to carry the same penalty. After a little experimenting, I also ditched the +4 Ring of Dex for a +4 Ring of Int. Between all that, my spell points just went from 45 to 109. Whoo - I think the rush of sudden power just went to my head. I might even have the firepower to handle a deathtrap mob of Gnomish Wizards now - time to go abuse it.

Thanks a lot for the advice!

[Mondkalb]

The dungeon spell books are fireproof but can still be stolen.
All town books, scrolls and staves are vulnerable to acid and fire, rods and wands can be destroyed by electricity, also amulets and rings if in inventory and not equipped. Potions can be shattered by cold and shard attacks.

[Hugo]

Not sure if the intelligence boost actually helps anything.

The main effects of INT for a mage are:
1. More mana (spell points)
2. Lower chances of spell failure.

The amount of gain in these territories depends on current INT level and amount of the boost. To find out by experiment, find a safe place, then take off the INT boosting equipent and see how many spell points you lose and how the chances of spell failure have changed.

You can, of course, also consult the tables in the spoiler file magic.spo (see below for location of the spoiler files). Just as you can use the spoiler file artifact.spo to find all the abilities of un*identified* artifacts. But remember that you can't undo consulting a spoiler, so if you like the thrill of having to wait for *ID* to find the value of an artifact, steer clear of at least artifact.spo!!

[Big McStrongmuscle]

Another stupid question - I just found a Rod of Detection at 1500' and wanted to swap it into my F2 Detection Macro of Doom. I eventually found out how to do it from the helpfile - inscribe @z1 - but it mentioned there were other useful inscriptions. I've poked around the helpfiles and some of the likelier-sounding FAQs on rephial, but the macro inscription functions don't really seem to be fully documented anywhere. Do any of you guys know where I can find something?

[Mondkalb]

I had posted this in another thread:
There ist a very short synopsis:

http://www.thangorodrim.net/help/inscriptions.html

and also an elaborate text regarding descriptions and macros:

http://www.thangorodrim.net/help/macrofaq.txt

though the latter might be a little bit outdated. Some things have been changed in newer versions I think.

[Big McStrongmuscle]

Thanks: that's incredibly helpful. After three nightmarish encounters with Mim, I've been trying to figure out an easy way to keep from squelching one arrow stack without picking up all ammo.