Moments of "whoa"

[Timo Pietilä]

Wrath of God lying around on DLvl 6.
Of course I was a mage, go figure.

Well, of course. Exact opposite happens when you are playing a priest. It's the RNG way of mocking you.

[scud]

It's the RNG way of mocking you.

I'm still not convinced that 'red when you want green, green when you want red' isn't coded into the game.

[Oramin]

Nah, it is purely an accident that I've found "Wrath of God" early with both of my 3.3.2 Mages while I've had real problems getting Kelek's (I'm on 94 currently and *still* haven't found it even with my glacial pace).

[scud]

My current paladin resorted to buying Green 5/6/7. On the one hand this represents a triumph for the Black Market; on the other it shows how mean the RNG was being. Don't recall the depth but he was definitely CL50 before he found 'Wrath'.

The Black Market purchases were funded by the discovery of whole libraries of significant red books, naturally...

[Narvius]

Yeah, it's even more frustrating, considering I play no-sell.
And I'm lucky if I find Resistances of Scarabtarices before DLVL 70, but that said, I dive roughly at the speed of a downward-aimed missile, so there's that.

[Raajaton]

My mage just found a stack of 2 dexterity potions on dlvl 7 on the most recent nightly version. Just a bit earlier than I would expect to find them. Keep em comin ...

[scud]

Kronos, Draugluin, The Big Q, Khamul, The Cat Lord, Hoarmurath, The Lernaen Hydra, Ar-Pharazon, Eol, Akhorahil, Rogrog, Gorlim, and Kavlax. As a CL36 priest I'm sure I can take out the last three and the ringwraiths, but beyond that I'm not coming out to play.

BUT... I found my first RoS (+9) on the spot I'm standing, which gives me hope of getting a fair way before having to abort. Here goes...

[scud]

And then there were none...



Other than a black reaver and a great wyrm of balance none of the regular monsters were particularly nasty. Stopped short of the wyrm (left of centre, bottom row) because I didn't have rDisenchantment, and went round from the top. Found Purifications & Healing and the Amulet of Trickery in the first few cells, which was nice. The Qs had a habit of teleporting themselves rather than me, and I was only bumped out of the vault once.

The only thing that went 'wrong' was Eol: I thought I'd killed him but it appears I haven't. He must have blinked at the last moment. The scariest moment was actually a summoned AMHD – my first! – which found the lightning-shaped chink in my armour, but other than that it was surprisingly straightforward.

I entered the vault with a 140pt +2 attack speed mace, a +1 attack speed short bow, a ring of the dog, an amulet of regeneration, and a shield of resistance. I left wearing the following (plus a nice hat which won't fit unless I get ESP from elsewhere):

a) the Battle Axe 'Laithrien' (6d8) (+21,+24)
     Found lying on the floor in a vault at 2450 feet (level 49).
     
     Slays animals, giants.
     *Slays* dragons.
     Branded with weak venom.
     Provides resistance to cold, light, sound.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     Speeds regeneration.  
     
     Combat info:
     2.7 blows/round.
     With +0 STR and +2 DEX you would get 3.0 blows
     Average damage/round: 320.7 vs. animals, 320.7 vs. creatures not
     resistant to poison, 403.5 vs. giants, 569.7 vs. dragons, and
     237.6 vs. others.
     
b) the Long Bow 'Earierech' (x6) (+8,+13) <+3>
     Found lying on the floor in a vault at 2450 feet (level 49).
     
     +3 strength, dexterity, charisma, shooting power.
     Provides resistance to fire, poison.
     Provides protection from fear.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     Sustains strength, wisdom.
     
c) a Ring of Speed <+9>
     Found lying on the floor in a vault at 2450 feet (level 49).
          
e) an Amulet of Trickery <+4, +2, +5>
     Found lying on the floor in a vault at 2450 feet (level 49).
     
     +4 dexterity, stealth.
     +2 speed.
     +5 infravision.
     +25% to searching.
     Provides resistance to poison, nexus.
     Sustains dexterity.
     
i) the Mithril Shield of Aerna [16,+24] <+3> (charging)
     Found lying on the floor in a vault at 2450 feet (level 49).
     
     +3 strength, intelligence, wisdom, charisma, stealth.
     Provides immunity to acid.
     Provides resistance to fire, cold, disenchantment.
     Provides protection from fear, blindness.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     Sustains dexterity.
     
     When activated, it attempts to magically enhance a weapon both
     to-hit and to-dam.

q) the Iron Helm of Lemengbas [7,+38] <+4>
     Dropped by Gorlim, Betrayer of Barahir at 2450 feet (level 49).
     
     +4 wisdom, speed.
     Provides resistance to acid, fire, nether.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     Feather Falling.  Prevents paralysis.

To paraphrase Sir Alex Ferguson: Angband, eh? Bloody hell.

[PowerWyrm]

This is an except from the server's log for my variant. Playing a character, entering 50':

180613 094314 New Level 50ft Ratings obj:26/mon:20
180613 094314 HydraSlayer: This seems a quiet, peaceful place.
180613 094315 Artifact the Dagger 'Narthanc' created
180613 094316 HydraSlayer: You miss the Small kobold.
180613 094316 HydraSlayer: You hit the Small kobold (8).
180613 094316 HydraSlayer: You hit the Small kobold (8).
180613 094316 HydraSlayer: You have slain the Small kobold.
180613 094317 HydraSlayer: You see a Dagger (1d4).
180613 094320 HydraSlayer: You enter a maze of up staircases.

So, the first small kobold -- two steps away from the stairs -- that you kill drops a dagger at 50ft... would you pick it up or leave it behind, because there's 99.9999999999% chance that it'll be a regular dagger?

[DaviddesJ]

there's 99.9999999999% chance that it'll be a regular dagger?

Apparently not.

[Timo Pietilä]

So, the first small kobold -- two steps away from the stairs -- that you kill drops a dagger at 50ft... would you pick it up or leave it behind, because there's 99.9999999999% chance that it'll be a regular dagger?

Yes, because it has chance of not being regular.

[Derakon]

Several of my characters would pick it up because a 1d4 dagger is guaranteed to be better than my 1d1 fists.

More seriously, while the chance of that dagger being enchanted are small, they aren't minute, and any pluses on a lightweight weapon are a major boon in the early game. Given how easy ID-by-use is for weapons early on, there's little reason not to pick it up and try it out. If you're feeling lazy, you can just throw it at the next gray mushroom patch you find; it probably won't break.

[Timo Pietilä]

throw it at the next gray mushroom patch you find; it probably won't break.

I have a vague memory of unrelated thread that made me peek item features and if I recall correctly melee-weapon breakage chance is zero when thrown.

[MattB]

Aaaargh! Massive vault!
(I assume this is the famed 'Reward Is Worth It' vault).

[MattB]

And was the reward worth it?...


...On balance, probably not.