Missing Potions?

[Imzy]

I have played quite a bit of Angband, but I've never seen this.

v4, and I have never, not once, seen a Restore potion - not for STR, INT, WIS, anything. Is that a bug?

[Carnivean]

Restore potions haven't been in for several versions now. Stat potions increase to maximum before adding to the stat, mushrooms of vigor restore all stats and leveling up restores all stats as well.

[Imzy]

Interesting. Why were they taken out?

[mushroom patch]

They were tedious. Real question is why do mushrooms of vigor exist?

[fph]

They were tedious. Real question is why do mushrooms of vigor exist?

Because it's tricky to get the rarity balance right if one wants to rely only on statgain potions for restoring, I think.

(incidentally: potions of life restore stats, too, but it would be like lighting a cigarette with a $100 note).

[Grotug]

You mean rolling a cigarette with a $100 note.

They were tedious. Real question is why do mushrooms of vigor exist?

Because Hobbits.

[debo]

They were tedious. Real question is why do mushrooms of vigor exist?

I've concluded that they literally exist because Morgoth hits to drain all stats.

[mushroom patch]

But that's what potions of life are for. I think vigor exists because they don't want to take a hard stance against scumming for stat restoration consumables. Highly motivated tedium partisans can still do it.

[Grotug]

But that's what potions of life are for. I think vigor exists because they don't want to take a hard stance against scumming for stat restoration consumables. Highly motivated tedium partisans can still do it.

You can get Vigors at all levels though, !Life are like 3500' and deeper.

[mushroom patch]

More importantly, it's more obviously a waste to use !Life just to restore stats, whereas people have a tendency toward poor judgement when it comes to deciding whether restoring ones stats is worth a half hour of scumming.

[Grotug]

I never scum for stat boosts if my stats are yellow. Earlier in the game the next CL isn't that far away; if it's later in the game, I'll often go backward a Clevel, then restore life levels or regain the CL by normal means.

[mushroom patch]

I never scum for stat boosts if my stats are yellow. Earlier in the game the next CL isn't that far away; if it's later in the game, I'll often go backward a Clevel, then restore life levels or regain the CL by normal means.

Yes. I never do this deliberately but when it happens, I always wonder why it's possible. Stat restoration should come from gaining a certain amount of xp since the drain occurred, not from gaining an experience level -- this becomes especially degenerate and obviously bad at xl 50, but what you're describing shows that it's always problematic.

[fph]

if it's later in the game, I'll often go backward a Clevel, then restore life levels or regain the CL by normal means.

How do you "go back a level"? You nurse-dance in front of an xp drainer?

[Grotug]

Everything and its brother is XP draining me half the time. Going backwards in XP is all too easy.

[quarague]

I use mushrooms of vigor mostly in the mid game. Early on you level up often enough. In late game you usually have sustains (at least for the stats you care about). In between mushrooms of vigor are quite useful. In the natural course of things you find enough of them to fulfil this need without having too many. Additionally mushromms of vigor are (at least to me) the main motivation to actually identify the different mushrooms instead of just squelches all of them from the start.
In summary, I think the current stat draining and the possible cures for it are very well balanced, no reason to mess with it in any way.