A Few Questions/Observations From an Old Player

[Oramin]

Hmm, so I just cast Wonder for the first time with my L40 High Elf Ranger (just adding the last few spells) and I felt a "surge of power".

You can cast Banishment as one of the effects of Wonder?

So, where can I find a list of Wonder spell effects and level/INT/class modifications on casting good effects?

Also, would you believe I'm level 40, hanging out on level 48 of the dungeon and still haven't found either Amrod or Amras (or any other artifact bow)?

The RNG has a warped sense of humor.

Oh, I'm running around with a Poison Resistance hole (just like last time I played a High Elf Ranger and died from Poison). Does Telepathy have a greater range than breath weapons? I'm assuming that with over 800 HP I can survive a single hit under the worst case scenario.

[Derakon]

So, where can I find a list of Wonder spell effects and level/INT/class modifications on casting good effects?

Wonder is hilariously overengineered considering most players are only going to cast it once. The full set of effects is in effect_wonder in effects.c. The "surge of power" message is, as far as I can tell, just indicating that you're casting the spell instead of using a wand; I'm not sure what's up with that. It doesn't make any guarantee as to the quality of the result.

The game rolls d100 then adds (character level / 5) to it -- so at max level you could theoretically get 110. Rolls from 0-30 are all bad (assuming polymorph monster counts as "bad"). Note that the only bad effect you can guarantee will not happen at high level is Clone Monster -- haste/heal/polymorph are still possible and about as likely as anything else even when you're at level 50.

Anyway, the following effects are all equally likely:

Magic Missile
Confuse Monster
Stinking Cloud
Spear of Light
Lightning Bolt
Frost Bolt
Acid Bolt
Fire Bolt
Drain Life
Lightning Ball
Acid Ball
Frost Ball
Fire Ball
Drain Life (100 + clvl as opposed to the 75 of the prior one)

Now you get into the super-rare effects that require you to be casting the spell with a high level to get.

3% Earthquake
2% Destruction
2% Banishment
2% Dispel Monsters (120 damage)
1% Dispel Monsters (150 damage); Slow Monsters (as the staff effect); Sleep Monsters (ditto); Heal 300HP.

Note that that last effect can only be achieved if a level-50 caster hits a 1% chance. I'd wager this has never happened (or, if it has, it was by someone who was patiently casting Wonder over and over to try to get that effect).

Does Telepathy have a greater range than breath weapons? I'm assuming that with over 800 HP I can survive a single hit under the worst case scenario.

I don't believe so; if it does then it's only by a square or two. But one of the main threats for max-damage poison breaths is the Drolem, which can't be detected by telepathy anyway. Cast Detect Monsters religiously!

[Oramin]

Problem solved on the Poison Resistance. The Black Market had an Amulet of Trickery so I swapped that in for my Amulet of Weaponmastery.

[Oramin]

And I just found Belthronding as my first artifact bow of the game. Hopefully I'll eventually find Bard because I'm very curious if 3 shots from Bard can do more damage than 4 shots from Belthronding. I'm guessing it will depend on the arrows I'm using.

Oh, almost forgot, thanks for the info on Wonder.

[Oramin]

I have several very expensive weapons to sell but the Armory and the Priest Shop are at 10k max and 15k max respectively.

What exactly is the formula for the values to reset? Apparently just waiting to the next day is insufficient since these were the values last night as well.

[Derakon]

The max sell price depends on the shopkeeper. There's IIRC a 1% chance each new day that the shopkeeper will retire and a new one will come in -- but of course there's no guarantee that the new one will offer any better prices.

Yet another reason to play with the "no selling option".

[Oramin]

Hey, those Scrolls of Acquirement and *Acquirement* don't come cheap.

BTW, by each new day do you mean each new calendar day in the real world or each day/night cycle in the game?

Edit:

typo

Edit2:

Question answered. I reset the prices by going down to level 1 and waiting 20k or so turns a few times.

[Derakon]

Hey, those Scrolls of Acquirement and *Acquirement* don't come cheap.

And yet oddly enough the proceeds from selling their inevitably useless end products is always terrible.

[Oramin]

I got Stormwalker once ...

However, the last one I read ended up in Leather Boots of Free Action [2, +2] (might have been Slow Descent, but basically worthless either way).

[Timo Pietilä]

BTW, by each new day do you mean each new calendar day in the real world or each day/night cycle in the game?

Game day. Always assume Murphy when getting new shopkeepers. The best one swap out really fast, and the lousy ones stay forever. I have played entire games with shopkeeper with 5000gp limit at armory/weapon store.

Also if you see a BoS +10 in BM and you lack just a couple of gp to buy them they are always gone when you visit it next time with enough money.

No selling is a good option. It starts to feel very natural really fast, the way it is supposed to be.

[Starhawk]

No selling is a good option. It starts to feel very natural really fast, the way it is supposed to be.

I tried no-selling a little bit earlier this year, with mixed results.

On the one hand, not having to stuff up your inventory with loot and shuttle it to the surface is nice. And the more significant gold drops are great - they make hydras actually worth the time/danger.

On the other hand, if you get a lucky drop of a dungeon spellbook for another class in the early game .... well, you get NOTHING. You're a warrior? Or a mage who just saw a priest book drop? Can't use it, can't sell it. In a selling game, you could at least trade it in for something from the Black Market. Similar for weapons/armor that are lucky drops, but not quite as good as what you're wearing. A lucky find could net you a windfall. In a no-selling game, it's just more frustrating junk.

[Derakon]

Squelch the items you can't sell. You no longer notice them, ergo even if they're junk, they're not frustrating.

[debo]

I still really like no-selling. It shuts the gold min-maxer in my brain right up and saves me infinity OCD trips to the town to clear my inventory of every trinket I've picked up along the way

[Timo Pietilä]

I still really like no-selling. It shuts the gold min-maxer in my brain right up and saves me infinity OCD trips to the town to clear my inventory of every trinket I've picked up along the way

Perfect description why I like no selling as well.

[Magnate]

Perfect description why I like no selling as well.

Me too!!!!!!