Returning Player has Noob Priest Questions

[smack]

Greetings fellow Angbanders!

Returning to the dungeons after ~6 or so years away. Gods how I love this game! Recently I can't believe how lucky I've been playing a no-cheating mage. She just died though @ CL29. I feel lucky though because I'm dying all over the place restarting. Guess I felt invulnerable (tisk tisk).

I have a few questions for you:

1. What macro keys do you use for spells? I made quite a hash of my last macros using the F1-F12 keys, and shifted versions of same. Anyone have a nice spell layout for easy typing?

2. Just started a priest and have forgotten just about everything about them. A long time ago I remember reading some very nice class guides, including a priest guide, but I can't seem to find anything like that now. Any noobie-level guides to starting out as a priest? For example, what spell order and how to 'take' spells from various books? I've forgotten how it works. I realize that I should be doing most of my killing in melee / ranged, but what are some good ways to equip a priest early game? And etc.. along those lines.

So yeah, looking for some nice reading about playing various classes / races. I enjoy reading guides to fill in the knowledge gaps. Hell, I don't even remember what dungeon levels spawn which ability potions, etc.. I've read most of what google can get my hands on but I feel like there is something I'm missing.

3. I miss the auto-roller! I'm sure there are good reasons, but the manual roller just doesn't seem able to even match the points system, let alone surpass it. What was the last version of Angband to use the autoroller?

That's it really. I think I used to play with cheat-death enabled, but I don't think I can go back to it, unless anyone thinks it would be helpful for learning. Actually, that's what got my mage killed. I started a few new games with cheat death and then went back to her and got breathed on by a basilisk while contemplating the re-load state of the game. Dumb!

Thanks,

Smack

[Napsterbater]

I use the roguelike keyset, so I like to put my spell macros on F2-F5 for detection spells. Orb of Draining I like to bind to shift-Tab when I play Priest.

I believe the game's progressed to the point where you really don't need specialized knowledge like you'd find in a guide to play effectively. Just learn as you go. Melee works the same as other characters, except for the blunt weapon requirement, which you might be tempted to ignore, except it puts your spell failure rate in the gutter. Grab spells with "Shift-G". You can't pick the order, the game chooses for you.

The auto-roller was taken out and replaced with the point based, which, IIRC, will give you the best character possible that you could have rolled with the auto-roller, only you get to choose your best stats. The manual roller won't ever surpass points based, it's for players who want a challenge.

But stats matter little to survivability, especially in the early game. Having even five extra CON or STR or even both won't help you if you get caught in the middle of a pack of wolves without a tele.

[PowerDiver]

Any noobie-level guides to starting out as a priest? For example, what spell order and how to 'take' spells from various books? I've forgotten how it works. I realize that I should be doing most of my killing in melee / ranged, but what are some good ways to equip a priest early game? And etc.. along those lines.

Paladins should play games sometimes waiting for particular char levels before learning a bunch of spells. If you are not playing a challenge race, a priest should probably just learn whenever a new spell becomes available. With only one blow, stick to ranged combat. Don't forget to bless, which makes a big difference in how often you hit. Carry a few !hero for the harder fights.

[Raxmei]

When playing priests the random spell gain is much more troublesome than it is for paladins. Paladins gain the ability to learn spells at about the same pace as spells become available. The randomness actually has an effect on priests and priests rely on their spellcasting more than paladins do. One of the old tricks is to hold off on studying for a few levels before hitting level 9 in order to ensure that you are able to learn Orb of Draining. Book 1 is loaded with important spells, notables including Bless, Cure Light Wounds, and Detect Traps, Doors, and Stairs. Book 2 is less hugely important. It's nice to have access to Portal and resist fire and cold will eventually become useful but you can afford to neglect that book for a while if you have to.

Bless has a pretty big impact on your combat ability early on. In some fights it's worth spending an action on Bless even if you're already in melee. Cure light wounds offers the best mana economy for healing so as long as you have the actions to spare it's pretty handy.

Inscribing a weapon ^m will cause the game to prompt you for confirmation whenever you use the m command while wielding it.

My preference for macro keys is Ctrl- wazcvbgfdh, lower left side letters. I can hit all of those using just my left hand without moving it from its usual postion. The normal command set uses few Ctrl-commands. The only command blocked off by my macros is repreat level feeling and I sometimes slip and accidentally save my game.

[PowerDiver]

The randomness actually has an effect on priests and priests rely on their spellcasting more than paladins do. One of the old tricks is to hold off on studying for a few levels before hitting level 9 in order to ensure that you are able to learn Orb of Draining. Book 1 is loaded with important spells, notables including Bless, Cure Light Wounds, and Detect Traps, Doors, and Stairs. Book 2 is less hugely important. It's nice to have access to Portal and resist fire and cold will eventually become useful but you can afford to neglect that book for a while if you have to.

Oops. I am hopelessly confused. The one place I disagree is that I think Portal is important early.

[Derakon]

Portal is useful whenever you can get it. The real question for priests is how many times they want to gamble on getting Portal from the second spellbook vs. how certain they want to be that they'll get Orb of Draining as soon as it's available. Obviously if they could choose which spells they learned this wouldn't be an issue.

[Raxmei]

I agree that Portal is important. It's the most important spell in book 2 in my opinion. Unfortunately, as a priest I am equally likely to learn Scare Monster, Chant, and Cure Serious wounds if I try to study out of book 2. I do try to learn Portal if I can but all too often I have to learn every last spell out of book 1 in order to cover the essentials. If I only learn half of book 2 in order to save slots I can be certain of getting Orb of Draining at level 9. If I don't try to save slots and just learn as I go it's possible I'll still fail to get Portal by then.

[PowerDiver]

I've played a lot of priests. I don't remember any problems, which was the reason for my first confused response. It always seemed easy to insure both Portal and Orb. I remember a time when I wouldn't learn any spells at all until CL3, but I stopped worrying about that a long time ago.

[smack]

Thanks for the tips and discussion.

I remember having a nuisance of a time making sure I got spells at the times I wanted them, but in Angband 3.2 I have had no problems with any characters. Everyone sits around with extra "Study!" messages even in the early levels. Personally I liked the challenge of timing spell gain or waiting for proper books, and I do not want this over-zealous 'Study!' message constantly reminding me that something is not balanced in character progression (its too easy).

Now playing a rogue (CL21) and have "Study (4)" when the only spell I could learn is Wonder.

I found the priest pretty challenging considering woeful melee in the beginning, and even though OOD is powerful I lost a bit of interest in the gameplay of a single-minded attack. Next time I'll go more ranged. I'd thought my priest could handle melee, but he was terrible!

@Raxmei: Thanks for the macro tips. I like that all-left hand layout. Reaching for Function keys can be a little annoying and that should be a good alternative.

@Napsterbater: Thanks for the explanation r/e the autoroller. A bit counter-intuitive that points-based would be so superior in outcome to rolling the dice. Regarding a guide to playing various classes: Perhaps no guide is necessary, but I've always enjoyed reading other player's strategies in just about any game. Sometimes I learned things I wished I had figured out for myself, but generally its just a matter of interest.

[smack]

Rogues?

Rather than start a new thread I thought I'd continue asking my noobie questions here...

Rogues? Hobbit Rogues? How do you do enough damage to dive? I took a lvl 24 rogue down to 1500ft for stat potions and got pwnd by a black night of all things. Staff of Teleportation- failed to use properly. But I was already a bit frustrated with this character, so it isn't all that surprising that she died. I've gone farther with a hobbit rogue in the past but am finding it a bit challenging this time around. Any early-mid game pointers would be great.

[Derakon]

Rogues are a bit weird to play. You expect them to be hybrid characters with mediocre spellcasting and decent combat; in fact, they have terrible spellcasting and quite good combat. Try to get as good of STR and DEX as you can manage from the start, and use those potions of Brawn/Nimbleness to get more blows, even if this detracts from your INT. You only need spellcasting for detection spells -- don't even bother with the other books until much later.

Even with all that, though, rogue melee isn't all that impressive early on, so you need to pick your battles carefully. Carry potions of Heroism and scrolls of Holy Chant to boost your to-hit chances, as well as lots of healing potions so you can stick around in combat longer. I routinely had to chug CSW/CCW while battling groups of orcs, for example, but those potions are readily replaced, so no big deal.

Once you get a decent weapon and the STR/DEX to use it effectively, you can start taking on bigger enemies, but throughout the game you'll basically be playing as a warrior with some spells and better stealth.

[smack]

Yes, that's about how I've found it. My best rogue had legendary stealth throughout the mid game which really makes quite a difference, but until I can get more swings/speed it is sometimes slow going.

Rogue with stealth: slow, controlled encounters, lotsa loot (detect objects)

Warrior with rod(s) of detection: makes rogues look underpowered?