The Official Bad Advice Thread

[Rizwan]

What I meant was and probably should have mentioned clearly that doing this while battling nasties and not safe and sound in a corner of the dungeon, or maybe even in town, was a bad idea. Then again maybe its because I sell all the unidentified stuff before I get ID from a book (I usually play fighter with magic) and my conservative style of play

[Psi]

The best bad advice I can give is...

- an unId'd ring is always worth risking your life for
- whatever else you could do, just one more round of melee is always worth it
- an opponent at one star cannot possibly kill you
- never waste a ?TL when there is a slight chance a teleport might be safe
- healing schmealing

[will_asher]

If there is a ghost in the wall of the room you're in, just wait until it comes out and cast Dispel Undead.

Why is this bad advice?

[Pete Mack]

With good melee, you can safely fight Homunculi if you are careful about waiting to get the first blows. They have few HP and lousy AC. With 4 blows, you can be quite confident of defeating (killing or frightening) them in a single turn.

[zaimoni]

Why is this bad advice?

A ghost worth casting Dispel Undead on (which the wall provides cover for even though otherwise it would be targeted as in Line of Sight), is probably capable of casting Nether Bolt from within the wall. (Or worse). If I could break Line of Fire in one move, I'd do that instead and prepare.

Dispel Undead also has really flaky damage; you can't really count on the spell version, compared to Orb Of Draining.

[will_asher]

A ghost worth casting Dispel Undead on (which the wall provides cover for even though otherwise it would be targeted as in Line of Sight), is probably capable of casting Nether Bolt from within the wall. (Or worse). If I could break Line of Fire in one move, I'd do that instead and prepare.

oh I misunderstood because he said "ghost", I thought he meant "ghost" instead of "monster symbolized by the letter G."

[Cardinal Rob]

Kobolds as a player character completely suck. They have bad strength and intelligence and therefore are bad at important skills such as fighting and magic. And they get a big bad experience penalty.

The only redeeming factor for a kobold is resist poison, which is really easy to find anyway.

You might as well just play as a human, you'll be better and have no exp penalty.

Gnomes also suck. Never play as a gnome.

[Pete Mack]

Kobolds as a player character completely suck. They have bad strength and intelligence and therefore are bad at important skills such as fighting and magic. And they get a big bad experience penalty.

The only redeeming factor for a kobold is resist poison, which is really easy to find anyway.

This is exactly right. The reason I play them is exactly the same reason they are so rare on the ladder--it's a challenge race, like Gnome and Half-Orc.

If you want an easy race that advances fast, try Elf or Half-Elf.

[Garrie]

This is exactly right. The reason I play them is exactly the same reason they are so rare on the ladder--it's a challenge race, like Gnome and Half-Orc.

If you want an easy race that advances fast, try Elf or Half-Elf.

Pete, I think you and I have different opinions of irony...

...The only redeeming factor for a kobold is resist poison, which is really easy to find anyway...

Gnomes also suck. Never play as a gnome.

[darkdrone]

run around wilderness , especially plains, at night as a CL1 mage.

hit the arrow key blindly.

play at midnight when too sleepy.

play when angry at the world (this is Angband, not Quake with the cheats on!)

play mages as a newbie , after a frustrating day at work.

dont do a 'detect evil/monsters" scroll on entering a level.

even if u DID cast Detect spell, you CAN tell the type of monster JUST by looking at the ASCII!!

[HallucinationMushroom]

Playing under the influence will help you be more immersed in the game which will lead you to making better decisions.

[Djabanete]

Playing under the influence will help you be more immersed in the game which will lead you to making better decisions.

You have two days to write something on this thread about shovels. I expect to be amused.

EDIT: Thanks! That did it for me.

[HallucinationMushroom]

The only things you need to beat the game can be found in the general store.

[ekolis]

Mushrooms of hallucination are great ways to learn about enemy weaknesses. ("You cast a lightning bolt. The Dalek dies! Ah, it appears robots are vulnerable to electricity!")

Engraving "elbereth" on your sword will protect you from evil. (No! No! Not Nethack!)

An "artifact" is a relic from a bygone era and as such is completely useless; if you find any you should squelch them.

You need to be at least level 15 to cast "magic missile" or else Cthulhu will eat your soul! (Note: this might not be such bad advice in Steamband...)

Hounds come in many breeds representing various elements, but are mostly harmless - one of the more (relatively) dangerous breeds is the Basset Hound, which represents two elements, that of Gravity and Sound.

[daft]

It is late at night and you are fighting sleep and fighting Saruman. Saruman is badly damaged and you've just shot your last seeker arrow, and all of your rods are still charging. Your mana is kaput. Saruman casts a fire ball and wipes out nearly all of your remaining hit points. You are thinking about reading a teleport scroll, so that you may recover safely, when you come up with a brilliant notion: Saruman is probably weary from the fight, just as you are, and he is bound to make a mistake, giving you the opportunity to go in for the kill. You advance toward Saruman, ready to take a swing at him with your sword. You forget that he 'cackled evilly' several rounds ago and you step onto his poisoned trap. Saruman teleports away. You stand there, at death's door, alone and poisoned, wondering how you could have made such a blunder.