My first Angband character

[sethos]

Generally, you can start diving once you have:
Basic 4 + poison
Free Action
See Invis
and your Primary -most important- stats (This is just me) up to ~ 18/70

I also like to try and have Conf/Blind/Nexus (in that order) ASAP.

in vanilla, My warrior found out that everything else is pretty much gravy.

Cept Maybe Nether - There are a few nasty nether breathers deep down.
And Hold Life. Losing Levels Sucks.
And...


well, you get the idea. Happy Diving.

[Timo Pietilä]

Yes, Amulets of Inertia always have speed penalties. Fortunately rings aren't the only other source of FA, but they're the first good source.

I think there is FA -granting items for all of the equipment slots. Some of them require a bit luck because you need to get right random ability, but still every slot in can have it.

Westernesse, Lothlorien, rings, Magi, hmmm...lightsource slot doesn't have it, Dwarven, few artifacts, Dwaven, Might, FA and FA. +several others not mentioned here.

[debo]

I've found many of those FAs now

I sort of wish my character could sprout more legs, because I keep finding boots that I'd like to wear.

I also keep finding artifacts that are more suited to mages than to a warrior, but I can't complain

I found some artifact mace (can't remember the name now) that does about 75% the damage/round than my normal Ego weapon does, but it gives me haste when I activate it. So far I've been wielding that, and in situations when things are looking ugly, I activate it and then swap to my 'big damage' weapon. Works great so far, but now I'm starting to miss my Bag of Holding from Nethack, as much as I abhorred Sokoban. They weren't kidding when they wrote "inventory management" as one of the challenges of this game!

Anyhow, War continues to defy my expectations. He seems to have a strong attachment to life.

In my next game, I think I'd like to play a Kobold... having innate +Pois would make a bunch of my gear choices much easier right now!!

[debo]

I have a feeling that I know the answer to this, but... is being scrambled by a Nexus attack a permanent thing? I had an int of 3 and it just replaced my strength... lol

Is the only way to fix this to keep farming stat-ups? Or will it eventually switch to normal?

For future reference, should I just sit there and keep getting hit by the nexus monster until my stats revert to something I can live with?

[d_m]

I have a feeling that I know the answer to this, but... is being scrambled by a Nexus attack a permanent thing? I had an int of 3 and it just replaced my strength... lol

Is the only way to fix this to keep farming stat-ups? Or will it eventually switch to normal?

For future reference, should I just sit there and keep getting hit by the nexus monster until my stats revert to something I can live with?

Ouch! Stat swap really hurts.

Yes, unfortunately your options are either quit this character, try to play with scrambled stats until you find stat potions, or just keep getting hit by nexus until you hit another stat swap again.

[Derakon]

Oh dear. The dreaded "STR/INT swap". I don't think there's a class in the game that would appreciate that. Probably rangers get off the lightest though.

So, you have an "internal" stat which ranges from 3 to 18/100. Your race, class, and equipment can then apply modifiers to that. Drinking stat potions will improve your internal stat -- likewise, stat swaps trade your internal stat around. Once all of your internal stats are at 18/100, stat swap holds no dangers for you (or I suppose if all of your internal stats were the same, regardless of value, then you'd notice no effect).

That is, more or less, the biggest reason why a warrior would want to boost his INT.

Triggering the nexus stat swap effect is really rare, and you get a saving throw against it, so you're unlikely to be able to swap back to something else.

[debo]

lol, so I was really unlucky then. I can live with that.

This character has already taught me wayyyy more than I expected to learn, so I might cut my losses at this point and try again with a Kobold, Dunedan, or High Elf Paladin. The 14 STR I'm lugging around is kind of a chore, my melee damage has been halved and I don't really have any gear that is mind-bogglingly good.

Plus, there's nothing that says I have to throw out the save

Thanks for the tips, folks! This was a fun first adventure!

[debo]

It's official -- War has been suicided, and reborn as a High-Elf Paladin.

Looking forward to seeing how this run goes

Thanks again for getting me on my feet, folks! You guys have been super helpful. I learned how to play Nethack by idling in #nethack forever, so it was nice to find equal or greater support over here in forum-form!

I might go create an AAR topic for this new character