Another Newbie needs help

[Mondkalb]

Depends on what you already have and what the current stats are and where you are in the dungeon.

If you were in need to cover a resistance hole any appropriate armor would be good. If you desperately needed more strength or whatever a stat potion would be wise.

I just played a few hours and there were DSM in abundance.

[Derakon]

DSM isn't that great, unless you get one of the top-tier DSMs (multihued, chaos, balance, or power), and those are very rare. Buy stat potions.

[Oramin]

ID the others anyway, you might get Law Dragon Scale Mail of Elvenkind.

[Derakon]

Oh sure, it's worth checking out if you find it, but I was saying that his $30k windfall would be better spent on something he can use now, rather than hoarded for something that might possibly come along later.

[robbiodobbio]

My stats are looking a bit sad:
Str:14
Int:17
Wis:14
Dex:18
Con:18
Chr:13

But I don't really have any resistance, only fire from my shield and acid from an amulet. If I'm diving to lvl 23 do I need other resistances? My AC is only 65 too.

[Mondkalb]

Just be careful.
I don't suppose there would be large and dangerous breathers around; hounds are easily detected and best avoided (they tend to stay in rooms if the character is not wounded). I don't think that any cold or electricity breathers besides hounds and occasional single minor dragons are to be expected.

Your stats could use some push-ups.

[robbiodobbio]

Bonus!

Drank 2 potions of toughness, gained 2 constitution and lost 2 charisma. Black market is still disappointing. gonna save the cash for a few dives see if it improves.

[robbiodobbio]

okay now there's white DSM in the black market for 11700 gps [14+13]. Worth getting? it's also (-2) does that mean it slows me down or it affects my melee hit roll?

At this price I'd still have enough for a stat potion if one turns up.

[Derakon]

The -2 affects your to-hit roll; it's too small to be worth worrying about.

I don't know what version of the game you're using, but you should be able to examine the item and see its activation recharge time. If it's small then the DSM might be worth getting, since the occasional frost ball will still be helpful at this stage in the game. Back in the day DSMs used to have recharge times of hundreds of turns, which made their activations really not worth using.

Of course, there's also the question of what you'd be sacrificing in terms of your current body armor to get the DSM.

[Mondkalb]

The DSM activation can turn out quite useful in early game, in particular for rangers and other classes without good mass destruction abilities.
You cant take out little annoying nasties like the yeek uniques who tend to dodge behind their minions and play hide and seek with you. Sometimes I get really upset about the little bastards.

[robbiodobbio]

I'll be sacrificing my mighty leather scale mail [20 +3].......

So it's def an upgrade, recharge is 50 turns, I think I'm gonna go for it.

[robbiodobbio]

Just killed Shagrat are a pretty epic battle, he dropped a large metal shield [12+5] which in AC terms is a big step up from my battered leather shield of resist fire [8 -3] (lots of acid attacks from water vortexes) but obviously I'd lose the fire resistance, which is more important?

My AC is really low at the mo (44) mainly due to acid attacks and not having any fancy stuff and monsters are doing lots of damage.

[Mondkalb]

The basic four resistances reduce the damage from basic element attacks to 1/3.
There are some big nasties you don't want to meet without proper resistance. Some of them even not with ... ^^

[robbiodobbio]

Ok so it's better to hold on to the battered shield just for the resistance. Is my AC too low for the level I'm diving? I'm having to use a lot of potions.

[Mondkalb]

Usually I don't pay much attention to AC. I believe that the effect of AC has been changed a bit with the newer versions of the game, but I can't say how.

Nevertheless I consider resistance way more important than AC.