Self-Imposed Limitations

[ElectricPaladin]

Limiting one's self in some way to make the game more difficult seems like a common thread. I've heard of shovelers - characters who weild nothing but a shovel all throughout the game - and artifactless characters. What else is there?

[pav]

See stairs must dive. Win that

[ElectricPaladin]

See stairs must dive. Win that

Sweet green god in heaven... I'm not sure that's possible. I'm looking forward to winning the game in a slightly feasible mode so I can try that one.

Though, how do you define 'must dive?' For example, if I've been playing that way long enough that I'm far past depth and something awful is standing between me and the stairs, do I have to fight my way past it to dive, or can I try to get around it? Or even ignore the stairs until I find a way down that isn't stupid?

[pav]

I suppose it's up to you, it's only self-imposed limitations, isn't it?

[Daven_26d1]

Penance was brought up in the other thread, a recent page mentioned the idea of a bookless mage. Ouch. Similarly a bowless ranger or a priest who is addicted to edged weapons.

Some other ideas:

Hunter-Gatherer - you can only eat slime molds and 'shrooms collected from the dungeon floor, and nothing else + no satisfy hunger.

Illiterate - never read scrolls. (or spellbooks obviously)

Hyperactive - never rest.

Beserker - must attempt to kill any uniques or OOD monsters you become aware of, only allowed !hero & !berserk for healing.

Honourable - Never attack sleeping monsters, and never shoot fleeing adversaries in the back. Must not kill townsfolk that cannot hurt you, unless they have already stolen from you.

Addict - You must eat all mushrooms of confusion, paranoia and hallucination that you come across, either all at once or top up as soon as you "come down"

Samurai - must battle uniques to the death or until teleport-levelled once the battle is joined, and must kill yourself if you damage your sword, accidentally kill an innocent in the town, rip off a storekeeper or kill a monster worth less than 1*clev^2.

The most fun one though is "Roleplayer" - truly get into character at creation, so no min-maxing, wear things that your char would find comfortable and fashionable, and emulate the correct behaviour at all times, dungeon or town. Use your imagination. I have to plug Unangband as being my favourite variant for this type of play, with ToME and Sangband being worth mentioning.

Of course, its not really about winning with these sorts of characters, more about testing how well you can do, and whether you forget the rules or not before you die. Try to go for a fitting death.

[CunningGabe]

Interesting ideas, Daven! Here are a couple of my own.

Merchant - You can only wear equipment that you buy in a store.

Glutton - You must always be full.

Pitcher - the only allowable method of damaging a monster is throwing something at it. (Okay, this one sounds pretty suicidal.)

Fetishist - your armor must be all leather, and your weapon must be a whip

[Pete Mack]

Sweet green god in heaven... I'm not sure that's possible. I'm looking forward to winning the game in a slightly feasible mode so I can try that one.

Though, how do you define 'must dive?' For example, if I've been playing that way long enough that I'm far past depth and something awful is standing between me and the stairs, do I have to fight my way past it to dive, or can I try to get around it? Or even ignore the stairs until I find a way down that isn't stupid?

It's called powerdive, and there are only 2 players I know of who can do it as fast as "see stairs, must dive". (Eddie Grove, Cliff Stamp)

A more feasible goal is to keep cl ~ dl/2, so you are cl 30 at or near 3000', and have a good chance of killing Morgoth before you reach cl 50.

[Daven_26d1]

Fetishist - your armor must be all leather, and your weapon must be a whip

Or Dominatrix (female dark elf from some variants would work), basically the same except that you have to shout filthy things at the screen whenever you have a weak male monster pinned against a wall while you whip it slowly to death!

[nobody]

i decided to do the must dive if you see stairs, started a high elf warrior, and 50,233 turns later i'm clvl 10 at 500' already found two excellent items http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=7474

[Daven_26d1]

i decided to do the must dive if you see stairs, started a high elf warrior, and 50,233 turns later i'm clvl 10 at 500' already found two excellent items http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=7474

Nice one! Crazy diving gets a lot harder after 1000' though, so lets hope the RNG has another gift or two for you before then. Good luck!

[takkaria]

i decided to do the must dive if you see stairs, started a high elf warrior, and 50,233 turns later i'm clvl 10 at 500' already found two excellent items http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=7474

Ah, now you're playing the game how it's meant to be played. You'll find some of the changes in 3.1.0dev really useful for this playstyle-- e.g. items get identified if you've been using them for some time, and healing potions being found in bulk.