Cost/benefit

[David B]

It seems like a lot of the cursed items have just enough benefits to make you wonder if they're worthwhile. I just found the Iron Helm of Gorlim, which, despite negative mental stats is also +8, +8 and prevents fear.

On a more minor note, rings of Open Wounds and The Dog have positive benefits as well.

Are there any items of this nature that I should make sure to keep a hold of? Are there any that you use on a regular basis (even if just until something better comes along)?

[Derakon]

Most mixed-blessing items aren't actually worth using for any kind of long term. The early jewelry items (Dog, Open Wounds, Escaping, etc.) are very quickly outclassed assuming you want to use them at all, and the various cursed artifacts tend to have enough negatives attached that I can't bring myself to want to use them.

Of the early items, the only ones I've ever really considered are Rings of the Dog and Rings of Reckless Attacks. Damage boosts are always helpful, and while the AC penalties can make things a bit hairy (having effective AC of zero against enemies in the 500-800' range can be painful), on balance I think they're worthwhile.

The Fury ego can definitely be worthwhile sometimes, though -- it gives extra attacks and damage at the cost of aggravation. A big weapon of Fury can easily be endgame-quality, especially if you combine it with other powerful items that are "balanced out" by having aggravation. Since aggravation doesn't stack, there's no additional penalty to having 4+ aggravating items over just having 1.

[Timo Pietilä]

Most mixed-blessing items aren't actually worth using for any kind of long term.

The Fury ego can definitely be worthwhile sometimes.

Major exceptions: Calris, The One Ring (and several other artifacts).

Fury doesn't exist in 3.4. Is still in 3.3 though.

[Elbereth]

I've found rings of teleportation rather useful early in the game, the small bonus to speed helps quite a bit, and you can play with the teleportation effect to your advantage.

[Derakon]

Major exceptions: Calris, The One Ring (and several other artifacts).

Fury doesn't exist in 3.4. Is still in 3.3 though.

Calris can be handy, yes, though it's much harder to remove its to-hit malus these days, since you can't buy enchantment scrolls in the shops. Thanks for the correction re: Fury weapons; I hadn't realized they were gone.

I've never found the One Ring. Well, outside of ToME 2 games, where it's a plot-scripted drop.

[Bagplant]

Ones I use:

Ring of the Dog (only for low stealth melee characters who don't have other ways of dealing with fear)
Ring of the Mouse (for casters who need the stealth, although they tend not to last long as having to swap them out to melee drives me crazy very quickly)
Ring of Teleportation (speed boost can be very helpful if you're prepared to be opportunistic and change plans often)
Ring of Escaping (if I feel it's worth the inventory slot, as it's exclusively a swap item)
Ring of Reckless Attacks (for a melee character)
Amulet of Inertia (reluctantly, if I'm getting very deep and have found no other FA source)
Ring of Open Wounds (if I've found no other good rings yet - HP recovery impairment is not noticeable at all if you have regeneration, and the activation is handy)

And of course the stat swap potions.

Most are pretty situational and/or only useful to a very specific type of character, but very few are 100% useless all the time. Exceptions are the cursed artifacts - perhaps there are situations when the tradeoff is worth it but I've never found one myself.

[Elbereth]

I haven't done this in a while, since I tend to squelch them nowadays, but I recall that potions of poison/confusion/slowness/etc did have an effect on monsters when thrown at them. Is this still true for the latest versions? They can be an asset for a low level character.

[Mondkalb]

Fury doesn't exist in 3.4. Is still in 3.3 though.

That's a shame! I have hacked Morgoth to pieces with an Executioner's Sword of Fury (4d5) (+23,+11) (+2) once.

[Timo Pietilä]

That's a shame! I have hacked Morgoth to pieces with an Executioner's Sword of Fury (4d5) (+23,+11) (+2) once.

Seems that insane Buckland slings are still there and they are rather easy to find. I have one with my current char that has 23 to dam and +2 to both shots and might, so it effectively is x4 sling with two extra shots. Beats all artifacts in damage, too bad that my current combo requires either rDisenchant from Belthronding or rElec from Amrod (I really really hate getting my gear disenchanted, I know it usually isn't fatal and can be prevented by swaps, but even single unrepairable point feels like losing entire game).

[Philip]

Yeah, with a warrior who wasn't optimized I got about 1000 damage/round against evil, a lot more against acid. Buckland slings and a lot of ammo are certainly one of the easier ways to win as, say, a mage or perhaps a priest. A ranger still might prefer something else, depends on what he has.

[Timo Pietilä]

Since aggravation doesn't stack, there's no additional penalty to having 4+ aggravating items over just having 1.

That again brings my mind, now that we have multiple PVAL:s in items wouldn't fixing that be as easy as just plain making them have largish negative stealth value. Say -4 for all items that aggravate, so it would not be binary that doesn't care what else you are wearing.

Maybe keep item or two that actually aggravate still do that.

I would also want to add an item flag that causes fear in monsters, not like a spell but a bit like orcs flee from clvl 50 char, something that simply artificially raises your clvl number for that calculation (maybe over clvl 50). The One Ring is great candidate for that flag. All the elven rings as well.

[ekolis]

Or, for a variant on that idea, how about an item that artificially inflated your clvl for the purposes of monster spawning?

(Monster spawns still depend in part on clvl, right?)

[Derakon]

Or, for a variant on that idea, how about an item that artificially inflated your clvl for the purposes of monster spawning?

(Monster spawns still depend in part on clvl, right?)

They had better not; I don't think they ever have in fact. Monsters spawn based on dungeon level, not character level. Otherwise why would we have all these arguments about how fast to dive?

[fizzix]

I would also want to add an item flag that causes fear in monsters, not like a spell but a bit like orcs flee from clvl 50 char, something that simply artificially raises your clvl number for that calculation (maybe over clvl 50). The One Ring is great candidate for that flag. All the elven rings as well.

A bit off topic, but I like the idea of monsters fleeing from the level (like in Sil) Only, I think the player should get the experience for the kill for the monster fleeing the level (and any items/artifacts should show up in the black market). This is not appropriate for V.

[Philip]

That again brings my mind, now that we have multiple PVAL:s in items wouldn't fixing that be as easy as just plain making them have largish negative stealth value. Say -4 for all items that aggravate, so it would not be binary that doesn't care what else you are wearing.

Maybe keep item or two that actually aggravate still do that.

I would also want to add an item flag that causes fear in monsters, not like a spell but a bit like orcs flee from clvl 50 char, something that simply artificially raises your clvl number for that calculation (maybe over clvl 50). The One Ring is great candidate for that flag. All the elven rings as well.

Sorry, I sort of signed up for that and instituted it as -10, 15 or 20 to stealth, but sneaking around was still way too easy. I can't code for nothing, so I couldn't change it. It's probably in some commit somewhere if anyone wants to use it.