What exactly is shatter? And how make a character dump?

[Amnekian]

I am deathly afraid of experimenting new things. I detected Polyphemus and in the attacks it says shatter. What exactly does it do?

[Philip]

Shatter means a hit by the monster can cause an earthquake, rearranging walls in the area and potentially burying other monsters in rubble. You take a character dump by going into the 'C'haracter screen and pressing 'f'ile dump. You can then post it on the ladder.

[Amnekian]

Hah! It did not occurred to me to dump it on the ladder than show you guys.

Anyway this is my character:

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=15999

As you can see I am investing on Cons instead of speed. Is this a good strategy? Also can anyone tell me what the speed descriptors mean precisely?

Normal
Quick
Very quick
Incredibly quick

What are their respective speed mods?

[Philip]

Normal - 0
Quick - 10
Very quick - 20
Incredibly quick - 30
Speed affects how quick you gain energy, which you can use for commands. High speed can save your life, but so can CON. Never fight anything faster, it could double-move you.

[Amnekian]

Hm, what if a very quick monster casts hast-self? Does it jump to +30 speed?

[MattB]

Hm, what if a very quick monster casts hast-self? Does it jump to +30 speed?

As I understand it, more or less, yes.

[quarague]

yes, the spell haste adds 10 to speed independent of current speed, both for you and for monsters

[Kosonen]

adds 10 to speed ... for monsters

What about Morgy?

[krazyhades]

I don't think he has access to Haste Self, but if you hit him with a wand of Haste Monster he could jump to +40. There's a hard speed cap somewhere in the 70s IIRC (too lazy to use the search function) but Haste wouldn't make M pass it.

[Derakon]

Also if Morgoth's in LOS when an aggravation effect goes off (e.g. from Shrieker Mushroom Patches or Silent Watchers) then he'll temporarily get +10 speed.

Best to just avoid him for awhile if that happens, I suspect.

[krazyhades]

The most annoying thing about shatter, by the way, is that the earthquakes can and do remove items. That unidentified longsword could have been Ringil...sure hope it shows up again later!

[PowerWyrm]

The most annoying thing about shatter, by the way, is that the earthquakes can and do remove items. That unidentified longsword could have been Ringil...sure hope it shows up again later!

*Destruction* removes artifacts, not earthquake.

[krazyhades]

*Destruction* removes artifacts, not earthquake.

I just tested this. Staff of Earthquakes, at least, definitely removes items.

[krazyhades]

Well, I didn't test with artifacts.
Edit: retested, you're right that it doesn't remove artifacts. Still, it will remove important items and it's really annoying.

[Amnekian]

When gearing up for the big M, how many consumables do I need of each to feel comfortable for the fight? For potion of speed, *healing*, restore mana.