My first Angband character

[debo]

Hey all,

After finally solving the riddle of the registration sphinx (geez that was harder than it should have been ), I have arrived.

The only other roguelike I've played before is nethack, where I ascended a character and horribly killed dozens more.

So, I created my first Angband character, a Human Warrior named 'War'. I chose the abbreviated name because I assumed I would die on the first floor in a matter of minutes. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the game is actually quite forgiving at the beginning! (I also like how there aren't esoteric rituals to go through in order to get particular artifacts, like placing rusty swords at altars and praying etc. )

Little did I know that War would quickly hit clvl 20 (dlvl 16 or so). I still haven't managed to kill him yet! I've picked up some resistances here and there... I'm considering deep diving now, without taking much time to explore on each level. Is there anything glaring that I'm missing? Or, put another way, how deep in the dungeon would you feel comfortable going with this character?

(PS -- apologies in advance if I'm not supposed to puke chardumps into the forum posts)

  [Angband v3.3.1 Character Dump]

 Name   War                                      Self  RB  CB  EB   Best
 Sex    Male         Age             18   STR:     18  +0  +5  +0  18/50
 Race   Human        Height          63   INT:      7  +0  -2  +0      5
 Class  Warrior      Weight         228   WIS:     12  +0  -2  +0     10
 Title  Swashbuckler Social       Liked   DEX:     17  +0  +2  +0  18/10
 HP     267/267      Maximize         Y   CON:     15  +0  +2  +0     17
 SP     0/0                               CHR:     10  +0  -1  +0      9

 Level               20   Armor     [55,+8]     Saving Throw         39%
 Cur Exp           4610   Fight     (+4,+6)     Stealth              Bad
 Max Exp           4610   Melee   (+10,+12)     Fighting          Superb
 Adv Exp           5400   Shoot     (+9,+3)     Shooting          Superb
 MaxDepth    800' (L16)   Blows    3.8/turn     Disarming            44%
 Game Turns      248896   Shots      1/turn     Magic Device          32
 Standard Turns   25468   Infra        0 ft     Perception       1 in 38
 Resting Turns       30   Speed      Normal     Searching            14%
 Gold               914   Burden  129.8 lbs

 You are one of several children of a Yeoman.  You are a credit to the
 family.  You have hazel eyes, straight blond hair, and a very dark
 complexion.


rAcid:......+...... Nexus:.............
rElec:....+........ Nethr:.............
rFire:...+......... Chaos:.............
rCold:........+.... Disen:.............
rPois:............. Feath:.............
rLite:............. pFear:..+..........
rDark:............. pBlnd:.............
Sound:............. pConf:.............
Shard:............. pStun:.............

Light:............. Tunn.:.............
Regen:............. Speed:.............
  ESP:............. Blows:.............
Invis:............. Shots:.............
FrAct:............. Might:.............
HLife:............. S.Dig:.............
Stea.:..+.......... ImpHP:.............
Sear.:.............  Fear:.............
Infra:............. Aggrv:.............


  [Character Equipment]

a) a Whip (1d3) (+6,+6)
     Bought from a store.
     
     Combat info:
     3.8 blows/round.
     With +0 STR and +1 DEX you would get 4.1 blows
     Average damage/round: 54.5.
     
b) a Sling (x2) (+5,+3)
     Found lying on the floor at 200 feet (level 4).
     
     
     
c) an Azurite Ring of the Dog (+2,+3) [-6] <-1>
     Found lying on the floor at 250 feet (level 5).
     
     -1 stealth.
     Provides protection from fear.
     
d) a Topaz Ring of Resist Fire
     Bought from a store.
     
     Provides resistance to fire.
     Cannot be harmed by fire.
     
e) a Sea Shell Amulet of Resist Lightning
     Bought from a store.
     
     Provides resistance to lightning.
     Cannot be harmed by electricity.
     
f) the Phial of Galadriel
     Dropped by Wormtongue, Agent of Saruman at 450 feet (level 9).
     
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     
     When activated, it lights up the surrounding area, hurting
     light-sensitive creatures.
     Takes 11 to 20 turns to recharge.
     Your chance of success is 90.4%
     
     Radius 3 light.
g) Metal Scale Mail of Resist Acid (-2) [38,+3]
     Bought from a store.
     
     Provides resistance to acid.
     Cannot be harmed by acid.
     
h) a Cloak [1,+3]
     Bought from a store.
     
     
     
i) a Small Metal Shield of Resist Cold [5,+2]
     Bought from a store.
     
     Provides resistance to cold.
     Cannot be harmed by cold.
     
j) an Iron Helm [7,+0]
     Bought from a store.
     
     
     
k) a Set of Gauntlets [3,+0]
     Bought from a store.
     
     
     
l) a Pair of Leather Sandals [1,+4]
     Bought from a store.
     
     
     


  [Character Quiver]

n) 87 Iron Shots (1d4) (+0,+0)
     Combat info:
     Hits targets up to 100 feet away.
     Average damage/round: 11.1.
     25% chance of breaking upon contact.
     
o) 24 Rounded Pebbles (1d2) (+0,+0)
     Found lying on the floor at 350 feet (level 7).
     
     Combat info:
     Hits targets up to 100 feet away.
     Average damage/round: 9.
     25% chance of breaking upon contact.
     
p) (nothing)
q) (nothing)
r) (nothing)
s) (nothing)
t) (nothing)
u) (nothing)
v) (nothing)
w) (nothing)


  [Character Inventory]

a) 18 Rations of Food
     
     
b) 16 Red Potions of Cure Serious Wounds
     
     
c) 2 Yellow Speckled Potions of Neutralize Poison
     
     
d) 2 Dark Red Potions of Berserk Strength
     
     
e) 2 Gloopy Green Potions of Resist Poison
     
     
f) 2 Green Speckled Potions of Infravision
     
     
g) 6 Scrolls titled "siduco vus" of Phase Door
     
     
h) 2 Scrolls titled "corrio flam" of Word of Recall
     Bought from a store.
     
     
     
i) 4 Scrolls titled "satum sinfitas" of Blessing
     
     
j) a Scroll titled "do autio" of Monster Confusion
     Dropped by a Gallant at 650 feet (level 13).
     
     
     


  [Home Inventory]

a) 2 Azure Potions of Resist Heat
     
     
b) a Green Speckled Potion of Infravision
     
     
c) 3 Scrolls titled "tra cla prio" of Magic Mapping
     
     
d) 5 Scrolls titled "quentrae per" of Treasure Detection
     
     
e) 2 Scrolls titled "sacclium sopor" of Door/Stair Location
     Dropped by a Gallant at 650 feet (level 13).
     
     
     
f) a Scroll titled "pentus" of Satisfy Hunger
     Found lying on the floor at 250 feet (level 5).
     
     
     
g) a Hickory Staff of Identify (2 charges)
     Dropped by an Ogre at 800 feet (level 16).
     
     
     
h) a Fluorite Ring of Searching <+2>
     Dropped by a Gallant at 650 feet (level 13).
     
     +10% to searching.
     
i) an Opal Ring of Resist Cold
     Dropped by an Ogre at 750 feet (level 15).
     
     Provides resistance to cold.
     Cannot be harmed by cold.
     
j) a Jet Ring of Protection [+9]
     Bought from a store.
     
     
     
k) a Rhodonite Ring of the Mouse (+0,-7) <+2, +3>
     Found lying on the floor at 450 feet (level 9).
     
     +2 dexterity.
     +3 stealth.
     
l) an Alexandrite Ring of Slow Digestion
     Found lying on the floor at 500 feet (level 10).
     
     Slows your metabolism.  
     
m) a Tortoise Shell Ring of Feather Falling
     Dropped by a Cutpurse at 450 feet (level 9).
     
     Feather Falling.  
     
n) a Wooden Torch of Brightness (4424 turns)
     Found lying on the floor at 250 feet (level 5).
     
     Radius 3 light, reduced when running out of fuel.
o) 20 Wooden Torches (5000 turns)
     Radius 2 light, reduced when running out of fuel.
p) a War Hammer of Lightning (3d3) (+4,+6)
     Dropped by Bullroarer the Hobbit at 300 feet (level 6).
     
     Branded with lightning.
     Provides resistance to lightning.
     Cannot be harmed by electricity.
     
     Combat info:
     1.3 blows/round.
     With +1 STR and +0 DEX you would get 1.6 blows
     With +0 STR and +1 DEX you would get 1.6 blows
     Average damage/round: 41.2 vs. creatures not resistant to
     electricity, and 24.6 vs. others.
     


============================================================
                   CHAR.
|   TURN  | DEPTH |LEVEL| EVENT
============================================================
         1      0'    1   Began the quest to destroy Morgoth.
      3738     50'    2   Reached level 2
     19309     50'    3   Reached level 3
     23677    100'    4   Reached level 4
     23927    100'    5   Reached level 5
     30546    100'    6   Reached level 6
     31846    100'    7   Reached level 7
     32946    100'    7   Killed Fang, Farmer Maggot's dog
     47444    100'    8   Reached level 8
     52240    100'    8   Killed Grip, Farmer Maggot's dog
     65995    200'    9   Reached level 9
     78935    300'   10   Reached level 10
     93095    350'   11   Reached level 11
    101780    400'   12   Reached level 12
    129910    250'   13   Reached level 13
    139828    300'   13   Killed Bullroarer the Hobbit
    148427    350'   14   Reached level 14
    158560    400'   15   Reached level 15
    169784    450'   15   Killed Wormtongue, Agent of Saruman
    169812    450'   15   Found the Phial of Galadriel
    179603    550'   16   Reached level 16
    186485    650'   17   Reached level 17
    201811    750'   18   Reached level 18
    208601    800'   19   Reached level 19
    242800    500'   19   Killed Grishnakh, the Hill Orc
    242800    500'   20   Reached level 20


  [Options]

Maximise effect of race/class bonuses        : yes (birth_maximize)
Randomise the artifacts (except a very few)  : no  (birth_randarts)
Restrict the use of stairs/recall            : no  (birth_ironman)
Restrict the use of stores/home              : no  (birth_no_stores)
Restrict creation of artifacts               : no  (birth_no_artifacts)
Don't stack objects on the floor             : no  (birth_no_stacking)
Lose artifacts when leaving level            : no  (birth_no_preserve)
Don't generate connected stairs              : no  (birth_no_stairs)
Don't show level feelings                    : no  (birth_no_feelings)
Items always sell for 0 gold                 : no  (birth_no_selling)
Use previous set of randarts                 : yes (birth_keep_randarts)
Monsters chase recent locations              : yes (birth_ai_smell)
Monsters act smarter in groups               : yes (birth_ai_packs)
Monsters learn from their mistakes           : no  (birth_ai_learn)
Monsters exploit player's weaknesses         : no  (birth_ai_cheat)
Monsters behave more intelligently (broken)  : no  (birth_ai_smart)

[Derakon]

Equipment-wise, the only thing you're missing to go down to 1500'+ is a source of Free Action. Without that, monsters will paralyze you, and paralysis is rarely survivable. I'd also rather have a crossbow or longbow than that sling, but it's not like you need to shoot enemies all that often right now. Just keep an eye out.

Inventory-wise, I'd want to get the following if I were you:
* More Phase Door. It's cheap and plentiful; I generally carry 15.
* More Word of Recall, so you aren't stranded by burnt scrolls. I generally buy up to 5 in the store, thus leaving 3 spares.
* Potions of Cure Critical Wounds. 60HP is decent healing (though you probably shouldn't chug them while in melee range), but more importantly they will, guaranteed, cure you of poison, stunning, confusion, and blindness. Buy as many as the stores stock, carry at least 10 with you, and stick the rest in the home for a rainy day.
* Staff of Teleport. Ideally you shouldn't need to use this much, but sometimes you just need to be somewhere else, and staves can be used while blinded and confused, unlike scrolls. They aren't guaranteed to always work though.

Later on there's more consumables to look out for (e.g. Teleport Level, Deep Descent) but that should be enough to get you started.

Welcome to Angband! And we're working on that difficulty so it's not so easy to start out.

[fizzix]

Angband is very different from Nethack in the early game. It is *much* more forgiving, especially for warriors who can pretty much trounce everything in the early game. I feel this is by design, and a good way to distinguish between the games.

Angband's trick is that it'll lull you into complacency. There are a lot of nasty monsters as you descend. You may find yourself happily mauling everything you come into contact with, and then before you know it you are confronted with a tombstone screen. Especially if you haven't gotten used to bailing.

There also isn't anything hidden in the game. You can beat the game without any spoilers or guessing any bizarre actions.

[debo]

Thanks to you both. I thought that the game might get harsher near the middle, which is why I stopped to ask for help before getting cocky and then subsequently killed

I will smut around the top 20 floors or so until I find something that gives me free action, and start stockpiling the consumables suggested!

[Goldbug]

Keep an eye on the Black Market in town, you may be able to pick up a Ring of Free Action there if you don't find one in the dungeon. IIRC the BM sells them for somewhere between 1200 and 2500 gold.

You'll probably want to get some form of See Invisible soon too, even if it's a switch.

Good luck.

[Jazerus]

Thanks to you both. I thought that the game might get harsher near the middle, which is why I stopped to ask for help before getting cocky and then subsequently killed

I will smut around the top 20 floors or so until I find something that gives me free action, and start stockpiling the consumables suggested!

Angband plays nicely with you until dlvl 40 - that's when it breaks out Kavlax (a truly nasty dragon unique that slows and randomly teleports you while dealing massive damage) and other unpleasant things to make you paranoid. It doesn't hurt that you've picked a Warrior, which is quite capable of dealing with early threats at the expense of being potentially quite unprepared for the danger of the midgame. If your Warrior gets killed I'd suggest a Paladin - they're probably the most newbie friendly class.

[debo]

Things are still going admirably, although I've come close to dying a few times now. Without those recommendations of stockpiling Phase Door, WoR, and Cure Crit, I would surely have been stomped.

I recently picked up a leather shield of resistance (awesome!!) and an amulet of inertia. The amulet gives free action but also give me -1 to speed, which I'm just going to ignore for now. The shield was hard-won against a unique orc who, I think, is the first enemy I've fought who was significantly faster than me. He was landing 8-10 hits in between each of my turns, so I had to phase and chug potions a few times before ending him.

I'm at clvl 25 and dlvl 20 right now... I might try to find my way to dungeon level 30 now, to start scavenging for stat boost potions.

Question -- is there any way to restore "injured" statistics ("you feel sickly..." etc) other than eating a mushroom of vigor / leveling up? If I have a penalty to constitution when I level up, does it affect the max level of HP I'll be able to attain?

Thanks!

[Derakon]

There are a few rare effects that can restore stats (chiefly the prayer Restoration and potions of Life). Additionally, there are potions that permanently increase your stats, and they will restore those stats as well (in addition to the boost).

Your max HP is recalculated whenever your CON or level changes, so you don't lose out on hitpoints by being drained when your levelup occurs.

Congrats on beating Azog; he can be a tough nut to crack. (Unless you killed his son Bolg instead, who is also a fast orc unique, but with considerably fewer hitpoints).

[debo]

Cool, thanks.

Yes, it was Bolg, not Azog. Not looking forward to meeting papa orc...

[Siggesigge]

Things are still going admirably, although I've come close to dying a few times now. Without those recommendations of stockpiling Phase Door, WoR, and Cure Crit, I would surely have been stomped.

I recently picked up a leather shield of resistance (awesome!!) and an amulet of inertia. The amulet gives free action but also give me -1 to speed, which I'm just going to ignore for now. The shield was hard-won against a unique orc who, I think, is the first enemy I've fought who was significantly faster than me. He was landing 8-10 hits in between each of my turns, so I had to phase and chug potions a few times before ending him.

I'm at clvl 25 and dlvl 20 right now... I might try to find my way to dungeon level 30 now, to start scavenging for stat boost potions.

Question -- is there any way to restore "injured" statistics ("you feel sickly..." etc) other than eating a mushroom of vigor / leveling up? If I have a penalty to constitution when I level up, does it affect the max level of HP I'll be able to attain?

Thanks!

Just watch out, -1 speed is a bigger deal than one might think. A double move from an enemy at an unfortunate time could be a killer. It also disallows you from running from a normal speed enemy without getting hit. I would keep my eyes open for a replacement source of Free Action.

I think the only ways to restore your stats now are leveling up, Mushrooms of Vigor and stat potions. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Also, having a con penalty while leveling up doesn't affect your max HP. The amount of HP gained on level up is based on your hit dice which solely depends on your race and class. The HP bonus from CON is then added as a fixed amount depending on CON and clvl.

[edit] Corrected how the CON bonus works. Thanks, Derakon! [/edit]

[Derakon]

No, the CON bonus is a fixed amount of HP per level you have. That is added to the values from your hit dice. So if you're at level 20 and have a hit die of d12 and a CON bonus of 3HP/level, then you'd have 60HP from CON and, on average, 130HP from hit dice. If that bonus got drained to 2HP/level then your max HP would drop by 20, but it'd bounce back up when CON gets restored.

[Siggesigge]

No, the CON bonus is a fixed amount of HP per level you have. That is added to the values from your hit dice. So if you're at level 20 and have a hit die of d12 and a CON bonus of 3HP/level, then you'd have 60HP from CON and, on average, 130HP from hit dice. If that bonus got drained to 2HP/level then your max HP would drop by 20, but it'd bounce back up when CON gets restored.

Ah, I see. Thanks for clearing that up!

[Soteria]

If you're having trouble clearing pits of trolls or orcs, here's what I do at low levels (in 3.0.9, I assume it still works in 3.3):

Since not all of the orcs or whatever become aware of you at once, you can tease a few of them out at a time. Just move as far to the right as you need to until you see a few orcs around the corner (however many you think you can handle), and then move back to the left. It looks like this:


********************************* *
*ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo* *
*ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo* *
*ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo o'o*
*oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo *o*
*oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo *o*
*********************************o*
_____________________________@___o*


If none come, move back and forth at the corner a few times until they start coming. If you have wands/rods of light, you can use those to kill them. As a warrior, I doubt you'll have much trouble with orcs, but it may come in handy for future games.

[debo]

Thanks for the replies, folks. I will probably continue to munge about where it's safer until I find another source of Free Action. (Above 20th floor should be fine, right?)

Soteria: I haven't had the misfortune of finding a pit that large yet! Haha... so far I've been lucky enough to encounter all of my uniques (and their posse) in a corridor. I'll keep that in mind for when it happens!

[debo]

Wait, Wands of Light can kill things? I thought those just illuminated rooms... if I was to active the Phial of Galadriel, would that do the same thing?

Sorry for the ignorance, I'm a total noob... I've read many faqs, but no spoiler-type stuff so far