Best resist Fire/Cold/Poison etc for fighter

[jford_2505@hotmail.com]

I recently came across the Lerneaen Hydra with my level 40 High Elf Fighter at around 2300'.

My fighter has 671HP, and all basic resist + resist poison (I remember getting cleaned up by a drolem with a previous character, so wasn't going to dive without this one). Also +6 speed at the time (+16 with !)

However, even with resistance, the Lerneaen Hydra can breath for 500 points of damage, and I was only recently aware of the double resistance provided by a temporary + permanent source, so had no potions, etc.

Nonetheless, I engaged the big beast, and won. However, it cost me 1 x *healing* !, 5 x healing !, and I am not convinced it was safe for me to attack.

Did I risk death in this encounter?

And as a fighter, what is the best source of temporary resistances? Are there just potions, or can I find rods, etc. at later levels?

[Derakon]

There's an artifact cloak that activates for temporary resistance to all elements. Otherwise, you're stuck with potions. Fortunately you have way more HP than other classes do so you should be able to cope.

And yeah, the Lernaean Hydra is a beast, and is generally not worth engaging since it only drops money. There's a number of uniques like that, where the risk far outweighs the reward.

[jford_2505@hotmail.com]

Death

Damn. I got killed by a grand master mystic. He knocked me out (I didn't even realize this could happen).

Does this mean I need stun resist at this level?

[MattB]

Damn. I got killed by a grand master mystic. He knocked me out (I didn't even realize this could happen).

Does this mean I need stun resist at this level?

Well, you don't 'need' it, per se, but it's damned handy.
Unfortunately pstun is pretty rare (less so with randarts). Crowns of serenity give it.
You get a warning because it goes stun-heavy stun-knocked out and a simple Cure Critical will reset you.
Mystics are best run away from, however.

Sorry for your loss.

[Kosonen]

You don't need it, but it certainly helps. At least with random arties rStun is so rare, that just avoiding mystics is a better option. GMMs are just bastards.

e: so slow.

e2: ok, yes, randarts are a big maybe, but rStun is still very rare.

[krazyhades]

GMMs are bastards for more than just stun. They move fast, summon, blind (?), stun, and do good damage. They're almost never worth the drop and experience. Possibly the most unfun non-unique in the game.

[MattB]

e2: ok, yes, randarts are a big maybe, but rStun is still very rare.

I seem to remember that there was a fault in the randart code that made pstun really rare on randarts, but that seems to have been fixed and (ymmd) I usually don't have a problem covering it. I don't think many standarts have it...

[jford_2505@hotmail.com]

Stun attack

I'm a bit confused. I am using "complete monster knowledge" option, and cannot see in the "grand master mystic" description where it says he can stun you.

It says "hit to paralyze", and "cause mind blasting". Is it one of these attacks?

[jford_2505@hotmail.com]

Knocked Out

I think I understand. If I see "heavy stun", it means, I should drink a CCW! or expect an instadeath. It is impossible to be knocked out without first having one movement whilst "heavily stunned".

[MattB]

I think I understand. If I see "heavy stun", it means, I should drink a CCW! or expect an instadeath. It is impossible to be knocked out without first having one movement whilst "heavily stunned".

Absolutely.

[debo]

Absolutely.

Is that actually true? I was under the impression that it is theoretically possible to move through more than one stun level between turns.

[Derakon]

I'm a bit confused. I am using "complete monster knowledge" option, and cannot see in the "grand master mystic" description where it says he can stun you.

It says "hit to paralyze", and "cause mind blasting". Is it one of these attacks?

The stunning effects from GMM melee attacks are because basically all of their attacks are "critical hits" due to how the game decides if a monster attack is a crit. Basically, if the attack rolls at or near the maximum possible damage, and if it does at least a certain amount of damage, then you can get stunned by it. GMM melee attacks use d1 dice so they always deal the same amount of damage, and their damage dealt is high enough to trigger the stunning effect.

This really should be changed to be more clear. I know NPP has a "hit to stun"; maybe Vanilla can just lift that and do away with the current overly-opaque system.

[MattB]

Is that actually true? I was under the impression that it is theoretically possible to move through more than one stun level between turns.

Ah, yes, I see what you mean. But you can't go from stun to knocked out without passing through heavy stun (as I understand it) even if, as you say, you can progress through more than one stage without getting a turn. I think.

[Derakon]

Yeah, if you're, say, at normal speed in a room full of Plasma Hounds, you can go straight to knocked out if they decide to breathe enough. It's rare though, and you'd have to be phenomenally unlucky for it to happen when fighting a Grand Master Mystic even if you were at normal speed to his +20.

[fizzix]

This really should be changed to be more clear. I know NPP has a "hit to stun"; maybe Vanilla can just lift that and do away with the current overly-opaque system.

I wholeheartedly agree.