A Few Questions/Observations From an Old Player

[Derakon]

Basically, once you learn the artifact's name, if you lose track of it by any method, it's gone.

[Oramin]

Two possible bug questions this time.

1. Every once in a while, the "shift" + Move stops working. Easy enough to work around since I can simply save and restart and it works just fine. I'm using a K120 USB keyboard and Windows 7 if this is an actual bug as opposed to my having unknowingly hit something on the keyboard.

2. If we've probed Uniques, why doesn't the monster memory show their base life? For example, I don't know how much starting life Uriel has even though I probed him with my last character.

[Oramin]

If I already have a Rod of Restoration, is there any reason that my Paladin would want to keep Purifications and Healing (dungeon spellbook)?

It only has 3 spells I can use: Cure Serious Wounds, Cure Mortal Wounds, and Restoration. Healing from the 4th store spellbook seems to be just as good as Cure Mortal Wounds.

[Derakon]

The only reason I can think of is if you need to restore stats more often than the rod allows for. But certainly it wouldn't be worth carrying both.

[Oramin]

Thanks, that's what I thought. After I've learned the spells and cast them for the experience gain, I'll sell it.

[Oramin]

I just noticed that my set of Cammithrim is (+4, +4). Looks like it was disenchanted and, of course, there's no way I can re-enchant it since Enchant Weapon doesn't appear to work on gloves.

Oversight or intentional annoyance?

[Magnate]

I just noticed that my set of Cammithrim is (+4, +4). Looks like it was disenchanted and, of course, there's no way I can re-enchant it since Enchant Weapon doesn't appear to work on gloves.

Oversight or intentional annoyance?

Intentional annoyance. Be careful of disenchanters.

[Oramin]

Usually by the time I'm facing Gabriel, I already have Disenchantment Resistance. That wasn't the case this time and since Paladins don't have Glyph of Warding, I had the choice of either letting him hit me in an anti-summoning tunnel or giving him the chance to do what he did 3 times during this battle before I got fed up with it (summon a whole bunch of angels).

BTW, are Paladins one of the harder classes to play?

[Derakon]

I generally consider paladins to be one of the easier ones, really -- they have the second-best melee in the game, and they get to augment that with a fantastic set of spells: full detection, mapping, temporary rFire/rCold, and of course the 300HP Heal spell. Compared to rogues, they have to wait before they can detect non-evil enemies (but they can detect ghosts early, so it evens out), and they can't cast Haste Self or get temporary acid/elec/poison resistance. And their stealth is worse. Considering what they get in exchange I consider the trade more than fair.

As for Gabriel, have you considered not fighting him?

[Oramin]

I have a standing policy of making sure all the Uniques are dead by the time I face Sauron and Morgoth. IIRC, at least one of them can Summon Uniques and I don't want to deal with either of them and a bunch of Uniques at the same time.

If you were suggesting that I could have delayed fighting Gabriel until I had Disenchantment Resist gear then sure, I could have done that. I have some gear for that in my home but I'm already carrying around a bunch of swap (dagger of Gondolin with Stun Resistance, Azaghal) and utility gear so that I don't really have room for it at the moment. Besides, I had already avoided Gabriel once.

Well, I just found a +2 Shots and +2 Might Sling of Buckland (courtesy of a Scroll of *Acquirement*). Maybe that will make the game feel a bit easier (once I get some ammo for it).

[Mondkalb]

I agree that paladins are one of the easier classes to play (depending on race of course). They are basically tanks with good casting abilities.

[Oramin]

Yeesh, I almost got my Paladin killed by the RNG and a little help from my own stupidity.

The stupidity part? Forgetting to cast Resist Fire/Cold before taking on The Tarrasque.

The RNG part? The Tarrasque's first 7 actions were breathing either Disenchantment (yes, I had resistance) or Cold (ditto). Fortunately the next two were Fire and I was wearing Narya at the time.

1/2 chance of breathing, 2/3 breath weapons. 1/3 chance per action.

1/(3^7) = 1/2187 = 4.57 x 10^-4 = .0457% chance of the first 7 actions being a sequence of consecutive Cold/Disenchantment breath weapons.

[Oramin]

Ok, I need a little help accessorizing.

I'm currently running around with Aglarang (+15, +15) as my primary weapon for 426.6 at about +26 Speed. When I *really* want to kill something in a hurry, I swap in a Blade of Chaos of Frost (assuming the target doesn't resist Cold) and hit my Rod of Speed to get to +31 Speed. Well, I now have 3 choices of swap gear so I'd appreciate advice.

With the BoC (and the other choices), I have the following stats:

STR: 18:***
DEX: 18:170

Blade of Chaos of Frost (+15, +15)
18.0 lbs
5.0 Blows/Rd.
569.5 vs. not Cold, 364.5 vs others

Scythe of Slicing of Acid (+15, +15)
25.0 lbs
4.7 Blows/Rd.
585.9 vs. not Acid, 363.1 vs others

Thunderfist (+15, +18)
30.0 lbs
4.7 Blows/Rd.
508.3 vs. not Electric, 508.3 vs. not Fire, 349.8 vs. others

I already have Chaos Resistance from my armor so that isn't relevant.

Preference?

[Derakon]

The Scythe with Thunderfist as a swap, IMO. Several deep monsters including many demons are vulnerable to acid, and Thunderfist covers two more as well as an animal slay (which could potentially be useful...though I note that of the three uniques I was going to recommend using it against -- the Tarrasque, Huan, and Carcharoth -- none of them are animals!). Thunderfist also gives +3 CON which may or may not be relevant.

[Oramin]

I'm actually going to keep using Aglarang most of the time, I was just wondering which of the 3 I should carry as a swap weapon. CON is at 18:200 so I don't need the extra from Thunderfist. The Tarrasque is already dead in this game so that lowers the need for an Animal Slay (besides, I'm carrying around 33 Slay Animal shots for my Sling of Buckland just for Huan and Carcharoth).

I just checked and in 3.3.2 all three of those are listed as "natural" creatures which should make them animals. Did you folks change it in the new version?