Which equip is better?

[Shany]

It's so many different equipment bonuses in angband. I'm not sure what to wear very often. What is better - Robe of Permanence or 'Thalkettoth'? I have Shield of Elvenkind for four base resists, so what to choose? (I play mage)

20 +24 AC
+3 dexterity
+3 speed
resist shards

or

2 +22 AC
sustain str, int, wis, dex, con
sustain life force
resist sound

[Estie]

Thalkettoth for the speed, unless your speed is already 10+ without it.

[Timo Pietilä]

Thalkettoth for the speed, unless your speed is already 10+ without it.

Shard resist is also one of the undervalued ones, deep into dungeon heavy shard breathers are actually quite common. So while it isn't necessary, it does save you healing potion every now and then.

Sustains in Permanence can be useful, but currently sustains are quite easy to get, so you probably don't need them.

[Estie]

Shard resist is also one of the undervalued ones, deep into dungeon heavy shard breathers are actually quite common. So while it isn't necessary, it does save you healing potion every now and then.

Sustains in Permanence can be useful, but currently sustains are quite easy to get, so you probably don't need them.

Yes, even with more than +10 speed Thalkettoth might be prefered, but its a close call and depends on other factors (like wether I already have some sustains). But with speed <10, I would use Thalkettoth no matter what.

[Shany]

Thalkettoth for the speed, unless your speed is already 10+ without it.

Oh, sorry, forgot to mention my speed/sustains/resists from other equip. Now my total speed is +13 without it, and no sustains or HLife from other equip. No shard or sound resistances either.

[Estie]

In that case I´d go for the robe. Complete sustains are a welcome luxury.

[Shany]

Met a group of an earth hounds. These shards can be a real problem. I decided to wear the robe for now, and save the Thalkettoth in my home till I have at least int and con sust from other sources. Thank you, Estie and Timo.

[Shany]

I made a very stupid mistake. ) Forgot that the Thalkettoth has the FrAct, and so I changed the gloves of FrAct to the gloves of dex when wore it. And without a FrAct the first strong monster with a paralyze gave me no chance to escape. Yasd.

[AnonymousHero]

I made a very stupid mistake. ) Forgot that the Thalkettoth has the FrAct, and so I changed the gloves of FrAct to the gloves of dex when wore it. And without a FrAct the first strong monster with a paralyze gave me no chance to escape. Yasd.

Such is Angband.

[Bogatyr]

I made a very stupid mistake. ) Forgot that the Thalkettoth has the FrAct, and so I changed the gloves of FrAct to the gloves of dex when wore it. And without a FrAct the first strong monster with a paralyze gave me no chance to escape. Yasd.

Urp! Well, on the original question, generally a mage doesn't ever have to allow a monster to into melee range by the time the stat drain monsters become more common, and never needs to be surprised by a trap, so sustain all stats is not very useful for mages. Unless you're using a glyph of warding strategy where it can be a bit helpful to avoid unwanted drains.

[Shany]

Unless you're using a glyph of warding strategy where it can be a bit helpful to avoid unwanted drains.

I'm not using a glyph of warding. My mostly used strategy is a "blink and shoot". So you're right, monsters usually can't touch me.

[Estie]

Urp! Well, on the original question, generally a mage doesn't ever have to allow a monster to into melee range by the time the stat drain monsters become more common, and never needs to be surprised by a trap, so sustain all stats is not very useful for mages. Unless you're using a glyph of warding strategy where it can be a bit helpful to avoid unwanted drains.

Uh it can turn, say, a pack of Dreads from a reason to leave the level into a profitable little skirmish. Or maybe a ghost appears in the wall next to you, now of course you can phase away and wait for it to come at you in the open, but right now youd much prefer to finish off the unique that is running from you at 1 star.
Sustains are worth more to a melee character, but they are far from "not very usefull". Definitely worth a speedloss 16 -> 13 for me. If I was using melee, I might want Thalkettoth for the dex and use a str ring over whatever else the caster mage is currently favouring.

[Bogatyr]

Uh it can turn, say, a pack of Dreads from a reason to leave the level into a profitable little skirmish. Or maybe a ghost appears in the wall next to you, now of course you can phase away and wait for it to come at you in the open, but right now youd much prefer to finish off the unique that is running from you at 1 star.
Sustains are worth more to a melee character, but they are far from "not very usefull". Definitely worth a speedloss 16 -> 13 for me. If I was using melee, I might want Thalkettoth for the dex and use a str ring over whatever else the caster mage is currently favouring.

Depends. With mage you can always know that there is a ghost there in the region in the first place, and dreads, and choose to engage or not based on the geography and your speed and power level. Generally when dreads start appearing, my mages have the speed and mana to take them out, and TO any that get too close. Sure, it's not useless, but my mages these days never close to melee range with anything other than popcorn while cleaning out an area, so it's pretty close to being so.

[MattB]

I'm a lazy, sloppy player, so I'd go for the sustains. And I hate being XP-drained.

[Shany]

Another question. Which resist is more important, shards or chaos?