noob question : how to deal with hundreds of monsters

[AnonymousHero]

Why not post the character on the ladder?

Btw, humans are generally considered somewhat of a challenge race. If you want something slightly less challenging, you could try a High-Elf or Half-troll .

[Derakon]

I didn't look over your dump very carefully, but from your listed stats needed for survival, here's what I would revise it to:

Speed
Basic resistances (fire/cold/elec/acid/poison)
CON
Damage (including STR and DEX for multiple blows, as appropriate)
High resistances (light/dark/sound/shards/nexus/nether/chaos/disenchantment)

Particularly:

* Speed makes you better at everything you do, more or less. You should target at least +20 speed for the endgame, with a source of temporary speed to get you to +30. At that level Morgoth cannot double-move you, which greatly improves your chances of surviving.

* DEX is only used for your melee blows, some small to-hit bonus, some small AC bonus, and theft protection (theftproof at 18/150 DEX), of which the first is overwhelmingly the most important

* STR is used for melee blows, carrying capacity, weapon weight, and some small to-damage bonus. All of these are useful so STR bonuses will typically realize good returns.

* CON gets you hitpoints. Hitpoints help you survive. At level 50, the difference between CON of 18/50 and of 18/200 (the effective maximum) is a whopping 487HP.

* Basic resistances cut damage from their respective elements to 1/3rd normal (e.g. 1600 damage -> 533 damage). Since they have such massive damage caps you absolutely need them for survival. You can combine a permanent source of resistance from equipment, with a temporary source from a spell or potion, to get 1/9th damage instead. Permanent sources don't stack with permanent sources.

* Higher resistances reduce damage by semi-random amounts (typically anywhere from 6/7ths to 1/2, i.e. 14% to 50% less damage). Mostly they're useful for protecting against the secondary effects -- if you have disenchantment resistance then monsters can't disenchant your gear, for example.

[LostTemplar]

Just my list of important things in order of importance.

Speed.

ESP.

free action.

Base resists, and CON (be able to survive one breath of any type, less valuable with good detection or ESP, but still mandatory for new player, who dont know what monsters can do)

res blind and conf.(this is mostly for ironman, just potions may work, just stay away from titans)

High device skill or INT (low fail teleport other)

Damage.

More HP and more resists, immunities.

this is for equipment. Inventory is also important. Allways have, if you can (again in my ordrer of importance):
Destruction.
Teleport other.
Teleport level (it may be first in list, but since I allmost only play ironman I have forgotten its full usefullness) or teleport self (dangerous).
Detection (first if you dont have ESP)

[dying_is_my_hobbit]

Thanks to those who helped me grasp this game, I could today kill Morgoth

It took me at least two dozens warriors, though, most of them dying stupidly very young and one of them just killed by Sauron, before I made this high-elf warrior who was lucky enough to find such good equipment that it was very easy to kill Sauron (not one potion used for him and the three uniques he brought) and Morgoth (hit, hit, *healing*, hit, hit, *healing*... until done).

Deathwreaker and Soulkeeper are wonderful gear.

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=12459

[Adelas]

Coming late to the convo if you just killed Sauron, but wanted to add my 2 cents to the lice thing...

Lice/fleas/worm masses breed on their turn. They aren't produced by killing other lice. Therefore, if you have three lice in the room, and kill one on your turn, the other two can each breed, and you'll have four total. Kill one, the other three can breed, now you have six.
If you have the ability to do magic, you can cast Stinking Cloud on them and kill several at a time, slowing down the reproduction rate.

Also, for anyone coming in here for similar advice to the OP: if you're having trouble with any group of bad guys, it's always advisable to retreat to the middle of a long passageway. That way, only one of them can hit you at a time (because none of them can hit you from the diagonal).

Non-humanoid creatures also generally can't open doors, so if you can get to a door and close it, you'll be safe from that side.

[Derakon]

Also, for anyone coming in here for similar advice to the OP: if you're having trouble with any group of bad guys, it's always advisable to retreat to the middle of a long passageway. That way, only one of them can hit you at a time (because none of them can hit you from the diagonal).

If you're dealing with enemies with ranged attacks, then you're better off at a bend in the passageway, so that you aren't in line of sight of more than one or two monsters at a time. But yes, one of the major aspects of Angband melee combat is managing how many enemies can hit you at a time.