Old school noob needing some advice

[crankarm]

Hi all! I have been playing roguelike games (Rogue, Larn, Moria, UMoria, Zangband, and Angband) off and on for years and years. But last 8-9 years it has been hit and miss in playing. Mostly Vanilla Angband these days. But never get too far and get killed, etc. So I decided to delve back in a it a few days ago with the fresh, new 3.3.2 and give it a whirl. And surprisingly I have survived up to clvl14. So I have amassed/hoarded quite a bit of stuff so that I am constantly Slow (-2). Also I have not delved any deeper than 250'(I know, pretty lame) and in the process have killed literally ~4,000 lice. So annoying, but after awhile of killing them down a single hall, you can get your HP up and level up without trouble. But now I ready start heading down, down, down. I have attached my current character file for Anakin. I would appreciate *any* advice on what of what I have should I keep and what I should get rid of. As well as, what am I lacking--which I need to buy before I head down the stairs. Thanks in advance!

You have brown eyes, straight black hair, and a fair
 complexion.
  [Angband 3.3.2 Character Dump]		

 Name   Anakin                                   Self  RB  CB  EB   Best
 Sex    Male         Age             55   STR:     16  +1  +2  +0  18/10
 Race   Dunadan      Height          89   INT:     16  +2  +2  +0  18/20
 Class  Ranger       Weight         188   WIS:     12  +2  +0  +0     14
 Title  Scout        Social       Known   Dex:     11  +2  +1  +0     14     13
 HP     154/154      Maximize         Y   CON:     15  +3  +1  +0  18/10
 SP     21/21                             CHR:     12  +2  +1  +0     15

 Level               14   Armor    [36,+13]     Saving Throw         48%
 Cur Exp           2765   Fight     (+0,+2)     Stealth        Very Good
 Max Exp           2765   Melee     (+0,+2)     Fighting          Superb
 Adv Exp           2940   Shoot     (+0,+0)     Shooting          Superb
 MaxDepth     250' (L5)   Blows    1.0/turn     Disarming            44%
 Game Turns     1439594   Shots      1/turn     Magic Device          54
 Standard Turns  127922   Infra        0 ft     Perception       1 in 21
 Resting Turns     9261   Speed          -2     Searching            27%
 Gold              1552   Burden  154.4 lbs

 You are one of several children of a Yeoman.  You are a credit to the
 family. 

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 Katana (3d5) (+0,+0)
     Dropped by a Kobold shaman at 150 feet (level 3).
     
     Combat info:
     1.0 blows/round.
     With +3 STR and +0 DEX you would get 1.1 blows
     With +0 STR and +4 DEX you would get 1.1 blows
     Average damage/round: 11.8.
     
b) a Long Bow (x3) (+0,+0)
     Bought from a store.
     
     
     
c) a Ring of Feather Falling
     Found lying on the floor at 50 feet (level 1).
     
     Feather Falling.  
     
d) a Ring of Protection [+7]
     Bought from a store.
     
     
     
e) an Amulet of Slow Digestion
     Bought from a store.
     
     Slows your metabolism.  
     
f) a Wooden Torch (3935 turns)
     Radius 2 light, reduced when running out of fuel.
g) Hard Leather Armour (-1) [16,+0]
     Bought from a store.
     
     
     
h) a Cloak [1,+4]
     Bought from a store.
     
     
     
i) a Leather Shield [8,+0]
     Bought from a store.
     
     
     
j) an Iron Helm [7,+0]
     Bought from a store.
     
     
     
k) (nothing)
l) a Pair of Iron Shod Boots [4,+2]
     Bought from a store.
     
     Cannot be harmed by fire.
     


  [Character Quiver]

n) 23 Arrows (1d4) (+0,+0)
     Combat info:
     Hits targets up to 120 feet away.
     Average damage/round: 7.5.
     35% chance of breaking upon contact.
     
o) 9 Arrows (1d4) (+5,+3)
     Bought from a store.
     
     Combat info:
     Hits targets up to 120 feet away.
     Average damage/round: 16.6.
     35% chance of breaking upon contact.
     
p) (nothing)
q) (nothing)
r) (nothing)
s) (nothing)
t) (nothing)
u) (nothing)
v) (nothing)
w) (nothing)


  [Character Inventory]

a) a Book of Magic Spells [Magic for Beginners]
     An inheritance from your family.
     
     
     
b) a Book of Magic Spells [Conjurings and Tricks]
     Bought from a store.
     
     
     
c) 10 Rations of Food
     
     
d) a Mushroom of Second Sight
     Found lying on the floor at 100 feet (level 2).
     
     
     
e) 2 Mushrooms of Emergency
     Dropped by a Green ooze at 150 feet (level 3).
     
     
     
f) 3 Mushrooms of Stoneskin
     Dropped by a Cutpurse at 250 feet (level 5).
     
     
     
g) 9 Flasks of oil
     Branded with flames.
     
h) 42 Potions of Cure Light Wounds
     
     
i) 3 Potions of Cure Serious Wounds
     Found lying on the floor at 200 feet (level 4).
     
     
     
j) 4 Potions of Boldness
     
     
k) 9 Potions of Resist Heat
     
     
l) 13 Potions of Resist Cold
     
     
m) 5 Potions of Infravision
     
     
n) 17 Scrolls of Phase Door
     
     
o) 12 Scrolls of Trap Detection
     
     
p) 9 Scrolls of Detect Invisible
     
     
q) 2 Scrolls of Identify
     Bought from a store.
     
     
     
r) 3 Scrolls of Word of Recall
     Bought from a store.
     
     
     
s) 2 Scrolls of Deep Descent
     
     
t) 27 Scrolls of Blessing
     
     
u) 8 Wooden Torches (5000 turns)
     Radius 2 light, reduced when running out of fuel.


  [Home Inventory]

a) 20 Potions of Cure Light Wounds
     
     
b) 10 Scrolls of Trap Detection
     
     
c) a Wand of Haste Monster (11 charges)
     Found lying on the floor at 150 feet (level 3).
     
     
     
d) a Ring of the Mouse (+0,-8) <+1, +3>
     Dropped by an Acolyte at 150 feet (level 3).
     
     +1 dexterity.
     +3 stealth.
     
e) 20 Arrows (1d4) (+0,+0)
     Combat info:
     Hits targets up to 120 feet away.
     Average damage/round: 7.5.
     35% chance of breaking upon contact.
     


============================================================
                   CHAR.
|   TURN  | DEPTH |LEVEL| EVENT
============================================================
         1      0'    1   Began the quest to destroy Morgoth.
     28430     50'    2   Reached level 2
     39777     50'    3   Reached level 3
     49263     50'    4   Reached level 4
    129047     50'    5   Reached level 5
    151335     50'    6   Reached level 6
    209065    100'    7   Reached level 7
    215421    100'    7   Killed Fang, Farmer Maggot's dog
    272650     50'    8   Reached level 8
    318185    100'    8   Killed Grip, Farmer Maggot's dog
    366544    150'    9   Reached level 9
    502536    150'   10   Reached level 10
    556550    200'   11   Reached level 11
    585210    150'   12   Reached level 12
    764581    100'   13   Reached level 13
   1058258    200'   13   Reached level 13
   1169240    150'   14   Reached level 14


  [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)

[Roch]

I'd get a lantern, more arrows (say 50 or 60), and fix your speed. Speed -2 will kill you fast. You can probably get by with 10 !CLW and ditch the scrolls of blessing entirely or keep just a few. If you need a lighter weapon, then trade in the katana for a main gauche or something similar. I would be doing damage primarily with arrows and magic missile (but save some mana for some emergency phasing). Detect often and you should be fine. Good luck!

[crankarm]

Indeedy, a lantern would be a great thing to have. However, no store as of yet has ever had a lantern in my game. Not sure what is going on there. Nor have I found one rummaging around the levels. Will keep just a few Blessing scrolls. What about the other myriad of scrolls/potions I have? Will look for a lighter weapon. I am mainly using Magic Missle and Lightning for attacks (and Stinking Cloud for groups of creatures). Other than that, I am mainly using my bow/arrows. Though I do some hand-to-hand combat since my Katana does nifty damage. Just gotta get rid of this Slow(-2). Thanks for your input. Would love others' as well.

[Derakon]

Take a look at lightweight weapons and see how many attacks you get with them. You're only getting one blow per round with that katana; sure it's 3d5, but if you could get two attacks with a Main Gauche (1d5) that'd probably be better -- because your strength bonus gets added to both attacks instead of just to one. Vanilla's a bit nonintuitive in that early on, you want the biggest weapon you can max your attacks with, not the biggest weapon period. That tends to be a main gauche or a rapier instead of an axe or big sword like you might expect.

You really do want to eliminate that speed penalty. You're moving 20% slower than everything else around you, which means you're taking 20% more damage in combat too. Being slower than your opponents is bad news. Things from your inventory you can easily afford to lose:

* Cure Light Wounds. Buy some Cure Serious Wounds to augment your stack to 10 or so; that should be plenty. Mostly just drink these to recover from status ailments, not to recover HP.
* Boldness. Replace with Heroism, which is strictly better (as it grants temporary fear resistance, some hitpoints, and a to-hit bonus)
* Resist heat/cold: you're not going to run into monsters that have dangerous elemental attacks for a long time (around about 800' is the very earliest these could possibly be relevant, when fire and cold hounds appear...and they still have pathetic damage output). You should be able to buy these from the alchemist later on anyway.
* Deep Descent: store these in your home for later. Then either read them to skip a few dungeon levels (if you feel like diving), or save them for emergencies, since they make an effective escape item. Same goes for Teleport Level if you find any, though they can take you up as well as down (randomly).
* Blessing: largely pointless. The combat boosts it gives you aren't worth the inventory slot you lose.
* Haste Monster and Mouse from your home: these items are quite literally worthless. There's no way +1 DEX / +3 Stealth will overcome -8 damage.

It's early yet in your game, but some things to keep an eye out for:
* Treasure Detection. Sensing where items are can be a big help in directing your exploration.
* Teleportation, specifically Staves of Teleportation. These make an effective escape for quite some time, but they're expensive (available from the magic store). It's worth picking one up as soon as you can afford it though. Use it as soon as the situation starts going bad, not when you're just about to die, since it has a failure rate (and you might land somewhere unpleasant, to boot).
* Cure Critical Wounds, once you can start affording them in bulk. Again, mostly for curing status ailments, but they also give you a flat 60HP heal per drink, which isn't bad. Don't drink them while standing in melee; phase away and then drink them. No sense giving your opponent free combat turns on you.

Also, your rings and amulet, while about as good as you can expect to find this early, are not worth much. Particularly, Featherfall and Slow Digestion are just this side of worthless. Keep an eye out for better items.

Best of luck to you!