Priest with sharp weapons and other numbers

[ramier]

I didn't know where to find this info...

First, in the character menu, as a low lvl priest with no eq worn I have

Fight (-1,+2)
Melee (-1,+2)
Shoot (-1,+0)

I'm assuming the -1 is from my low dex (7) and the +2 is from my str (17). I don't get the difference between Fight and the other two; is the Fight stat my base before Melee/Shoot specific bonuses?

Now I wear a Spear with (+12,+19), get the message that I'm not comfortable with it, and see

Fight (-2,+0)
Melee (+10,+19)
Shoot (-2,+0)

So it seems the priest uncomfortableness amounts to a (-1,-2) reduction? Is this the only thing that I lose in? In this case, I don't see much reason to value blunt weapons over sharp weapons, with such a small penalty. Also, I'm assuming that the displayed Avg Dmg/Hit numbers in the Spear are accurately reflecting the priest penalty?

Thanks for any clarifications.

Edit: oh, and this is my first time playing Priest after only playing warriors, any tips you have would be great Like, stop fighting the green nagas and dying around dlvl 5, which I've done a few times already. Warriors were much simpler.

[Timo Pietilä]

So it seems the priest uncomfortableness amounts to a (-1,-2) reduction? Is this the only thing that I lose in? In this case, I don't see much reason to value blunt weapons over sharp weapons, with such a small penalty.

Main penalty is spell failure increase which is quite big for higher level spells (but can still reach 0% if your clvl and WIS is high enough and spell is low enough level). This is important mainly for OoD early, heal later and "Purifications and Healing" healing even later. Without blunt weapon you can have 0% failure for first two fairly early, but that last big healing requires very high level.

Also some important protective spells like rune can reach zero with blunt weapon but not without.

Priest is a bit different class for melee than anything else, you can stay on fighting big opponents hitting them into head with dull butter-knife if you just have 0% failure to healing, sit onto rune and have enough mana. Fast kills are not required for survival, because you can heal a lot easier than any other class, so melee (or missile) weapon damage output is not that important (while still most important). For example you might value Amrod +2 to CON and regen higher than Bard slay dragon and +2 DEX with priest.

[EpicMan]

Also (and this may not be true in the latest versions of Angband / may only be in Zangband variants) I recall that wielding an uncomfortable weapon makes it very hard to hit and do damage at all. So while the difference in numbers looks small, when I have played a priest and forgotten about the weapon restrictions I found myself being completely useless in melee (as in, monsters healed nearly as quickly as I could hurt them), even through about 10-12 levels (I think I died around that level).

It may also reduce your max mana, but I don't remember if that is the case or not.

[Tregonsee]

Priest is a bit different class for melee than anything else, you can stay on fighting big opponents hitting them into head with dull butter-knife if you just have 0% failure to healing, sit onto rune and have enough mana.

Does a 0% spell failure rate for priests in Angband 3.09b or other versions mean that it works all of the time, or is there a minimum failure rate, or it is really 0.1% failure rate, or what?

[Timo Pietilä]

Does a 0% spell failure rate for priests in Angband 3.09b or other versions mean that it works all of the time, or is there a minimum failure rate, or it is really 0.1% failure rate, or what?

zero is zero in this case. Spells work all of time unless you are confused, blinded or stunned.

[Derakon]

Even then you can check the spellbook and it'll list your failure rate. IIRC being stunned increases it by 20%; confusion and blindness obviously prevent spellcasting altogether.

Also note that having too little mana to cast the spell will increase its failure rate based on how much your short by. This, too, is shown in the book.

[Tregonsee]

So why does it show spell failure rate for spells above my level? Is there some theoretical chance that I can use those spells (with a possible penalty, of course)?

[Derakon]

To my knowledge, no; the game just doesn't bother to not show failure rates and mana costs for spells you can't learn yet.

[Tregonsee]

I am using 3.09b. I am still a Dwarf Priest, level 37. Browsing Exorcism and Dispelling, it states that Holy Word is a level 39 spell, costs 32 mana, spell failure rate is 50%, and under info it states "difficult". This implies that the spell can be done but there may be consequences.

[Derakon]

"Difficult" is code for "you aren't a good enough priest to learn this spell yet". It may be implying something else, but according to the code that's just the description used when your level is insufficient to learn the spell.