Phail of Galadriel frequency

[Nick]

* Nick-- I got to use it again. Isn't it just a fantastic word?

I particularly like the way it's been successively borrowed by three different languages.

I liked the thread title, too...

[diggerB]

Edit:
I really do like the title of this thread--artifact light source...FAIL!

LOL completely accidental, but it does fit doesn't it?

Anyhow, finally got it just this morning, dropped on DL15 by Nar, the Dwarf.

[nullfame]

MB2 -- Teleport Self

Meh. This book is junk. I find scrolls easily enough and staffs are available in the shop. IMO teleport has a limited useful life. Maybe dl20-40. After that ?tl or ?dd all the time.

MB3 -- Detect Invisible. (Given this, S2M, Sat. Hunger, and ID are a nice lagniappe*)

Detect invisible (or reveal monsters) is so expensive and not very reliable. By this point I certainly have SI and almost everything invisible is manageable until I find ESP. I use the same technique for food as fuel: eat until full in town, recall. For my money it is wand of stone to mud and stack of id or staff of the same.

MB4 -- Haste Self

More or less same argument as detect invisible. By the time I can cast it reliably staffs are easy to come by. But this would be the 4th book I carry.

MB9 -- *Destruction* (Ranger)

Never got that far with a ranger though, again, staffs and scrolls should be plentiful by this point in the dungeon.

[Derakon]

Having "free" access to Haste Self and Destruction are big game-changers. If you can haste yourself whenever you need to then you can take on fights that would otherwise be infeasible, which in turn means you're much more likely to survive at deeper depths. Similarly, unlimited Destruction means that anything you can't be arsed to deal with just goes away, period.

Since these are the two main targets of charge-draining monsters (I don't usually carry any other charged items by this depth), having those two spells in book form also makes dealing with liches and balrogs far more pleasant.

[Tiburon Silverflame]

I agree with Derakon. Granted, a ranger takes a lot longer to have the fail rate and mana cost on Haste Self come down, but I hate relying on consumables.

This is also why I like regeneration. Mana costs don't become completely irrelevant, but for the kinds of spot use we're talking about here (detections, haste) it's awesome. It's less effective when you're talking spellcasting as a primary damage mode, because you have to cast a lot.

[Pete Mack]

I don't use *Teleport Self for an escape unless I'm truly desperate. It makes a very nice means of transportation, especially for a rogue with high stealth:

1. Teleport Self
2. Detect Monsters
3. Detect Treasure
4. Pick up loot if any.
5. Repeat.

Unfortunately, the spell gets "stronger" with character level, so pretty soon it tends to bounce you back and forth between the two furthest points in the dungeon.

[Timo Pietilä]

I don't use *Teleport Self

....

Unfortunately, the spell gets "stronger" with character level, so pretty soon it tends to bounce you back and forth between the two furthest points in the dungeon.

That is why I prefer Priest Portal over Teleport self from Ethereal Openings. Even that tends to do that same, but at least it does it less than Teleport self.

Maybe it is time to lower the range of that spell or give it a more variability in distance at higher levels.

[krugar]

Teleport Self absolutely saved my life today when my level 28 (248 HP) Ranger found my first Enchantress on 1550' (L31).

She woke up as I was sneaking closer with designs on her pretty head. And before I could say "So sorry for waking you. Don't mind me. I'm on my way", there's 4 ancient dragons plus an entourage of mature ones, all wanting to have a word about my manners.

Several cycles of teleport self, going back, holy chant, and getting drunk on cure critical potions helped me have the final word on the debate. Which was a glorious "Who's da man!?"

I found the spell very reliable already at this level with only a 5% fail chance. But this fight had also taught me something very important about it. I can't rely on the book. One of the dragons used Confuse and that nearly got me killed if it wasn't for a rod of curing I carry.

[Derakon]

Remember that !CCW is a guaranteed cure-confusion (and blindness, hallucination, etc.). Also, your rod has a failure rate, which increases if you're confused. If I'm going to try to use a fallible item when confused, it'll generally be a Staff of Teleportation (or a Staff of Destruction), not a Rod of Curing. Better to get away from the thing that confused me before I try to heal myself up.

You also shouldn't come to depend on Teleport Self too strongly. It tends to bop you between two or three common places on the map, so it's all too easy to get stuck teleporting between a rock and a hard place. It's fine for now when most threats can be fled from, but later you should move to Teleport Level / Deep Descent, and Destruction.

[Timo Pietilä]

Remember that !CCW is a guaranteed cure-confusion (and blindness, hallucination, etc.)..

Doesn't work on hallucination. Only potion of Life and mushroom of clear mind works on hallucination. CCW cures everything else though.

[krugar]

Remember that !CCW is a guaranteed cure-confusion (and blindness, hallucination, etc.). Also, your rod has a failure rate, which increases if you're confused. If I'm going to try to use a fallible item when confused, it'll generally be a Staff of Teleportation (or a Staff of Destruction), not a Rod of Curing. Better to get away from the thing that confused me before I try to heal myself up.

You also shouldn't come to depend on Teleport Self too strongly. It tends to bop you between two or three common places on the map, so it's all too easy to get stuck teleporting between a rock and a hard place. It's fine for now when most threats can be fled from, but later you should move to Teleport Level / Deep Descent, and Destruction.

Thanks will follow that advise for sure.

But, for clarity, the rod of curing wasn't part of any strategy. I just happened to be carrying it around for the money and it was instrumental in this case since I was about to run off !CCW.

...

Back on topic, my only small pet peeve with lights in the game is that so far, on all my plays, by the time I start seeing everlasting lanterns or lanterns of brightness, I'm already carrying the phial. A whole class of light improvements is ignored. But it really is nothing much, because on the other hand, for me at least, light is really the last thing I want to give a thought to. I do enjoy the fact the game tends towards removing that variable early on and allows me to concentrate on other more interesting things.

[Derakon]

If you upgrade, then lanterns of Everburning / Brightness will usually show up before the Phial does.

[ewert]

As a side note, considering it has a failrate, rods of curing could be upgraded to full ccw (including healing) effect, as was brainstormed during some discussion ... Then it'd be quite useful.

[PowerDiver]

As a side note, considering it has a failrate, rods of curing could be upgraded to full ccw (including healing) effect, as was brainstormed during some discussion ... Then it'd be quite useful.

Not so long as it has a non-0 failure rate to use when confused.

This is a game of slot management. If you are already devoting a slot to !CCW, it is a mistake to devote another to a rod of curing.

It used to be useful as a sort of equivalent to one of Sangband's 10K AU diamonds, but now it is pointless.

[Derakon]

I could see carrying a failure-prone Rod of CCW for use as a healing accelerator -- it'd reduce the amount of time I'd have to spend resting. I wouldn't actually use it in fights when I absolutely need the effect to go off, though. And yeah, it'd get dumped in favor of more useful stuff -- a carry-until-inventory-is-full item.