About the stupidest thing you can do without dying...

[Bogatyr]

... is to cast "haste self" (m-d-c) in a major vault @ had cleared out just to see that "+45" show up in the speed column after picking up that second great speed ring. Only to get the message "You rise up through the ceiling". That sinking sensation you get in your gut, argh! I'd dropped my town spellbooks to be able to pick up the loot in the vault and recall, and ended up casting teleport level by mistake. I left the amulet of Ingwe, a sling of buckland, and a wand of annihilation on the floor. D'oh. Got the =Speed +13, though, and didn't lose any core equipment thank the Valar.

[Werbaer]

... is to cast "haste self" (m-d-c) in a major vault @ had cleared out just to see that "+45" show up in the speed column after picking up that second great speed ring. Only to get the message "You rise up through the ceiling".

Never cast spells only by letters. Inscribe your books with "@m1", "@m2" and so on, and cast Haste Self as m-4-c.

[Bogatyr]

Never cast spells only by letters. Inscribe your books with "@m1", "@m2" and so on, and cast Haste Self as m-4-c.

I know, I know, but after decades I have these patterns burned into my fingers.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

I know, I know, but after decades I have these patterns burned into my fingers.

Inscriptions are the way to go. And it will take at most only 20 days to "burn" a new pattern into your fingers.

[Werbaer]

I know, I know, but after decades I have these patterns burned into my fingers.

They took a lot of effort lately to stop this habit. Many spells now use different letters depending on whether you're a mage, ranger or rogue. Haste Self is now F9 for me.

[bertoid]

And it will take at most only 20 days to "burn" a new pattern into your fingers.

A blink of the eye for a typical game...

Another good one was typing ',' instead of 'm' and wondering why I was getting hit multiple times and not able to cast! Finally looked down at the keys after YASD.

[Timo Pietilä]

... is to cast "haste self" (m-d-c) in a major vault @ had cleared out just to see that "+45" show up in the speed column after picking up that second great speed ring. Only to get the message "You rise up through the ceiling"

I feel your pain. I did the same mistake just yesterday with my priest, though I didn't leave important stuff behind. It was just a low danger level big vault (I got lucky with point 8 monsters), there was one monster that I needed to 0% failure tele-other, I actually looked at the book which letter it was to make sure that I press the right key, and then pressed the wrong key.

Item feeling 8, monster feeling 6. I don't know what I missed, but probably something that would have been useful.

[EDIT] typo fixed. Item feeling was 8, not 9. I'm not sure if item feeling can even get to 9.

[jrodman]

Never cast spells only by letters. Inscribe your books with "@m1", "@m2" and so on, and cast Haste Self as m-4-c.

Which prompts the question: Why can't we inscribe with @ma, @mb? The numbers are much more tedious to type, so I don't use them despite knowing they're safer. Certain spells I hotkey, but the keymap interface leaves a lot to be desired, and I'm not going to set up hotkeys for 20 spells or whatever.

Alternatively, why not just have the spells have stable letterings, a-z then A-Z (is 52 enough?) so you can just type mb or mz to cast spells.

[Bogatyr]

Which prompts the question: Why can't we inscribe with @ma, @mb? The numbers are much more tedious to type, so I don't use them despite knowing they're safer. Certain spells I hotkey, but the keymap interface leaves a lot to be desired, and I'm not going to set up hotkeys for 20 spells or whatever.

Alternatively, why not just have the spells have stable letterings, a-z then A-Z (is 52 enough?) so you can just type mb or mz to cast spells.

I like this! I too find the numbers tedious (they're outside of the range of the core touch-typing position).

[Timo Pietilä]

Alternatively, why not just have the spells have stable letterings, a-z then A-Z (is 52 enough?) so you can just type mb or mz to cast spells.

Not enough. Mage and priest both have 57 spells, and if we ever introduce druid which has access to both realms that would make 114 spells.

[Derakon]

Which prompts the question: Why can't we inscribe with @ma, @mb? The numbers are much more tedious to type, so I don't use them despite knowing they're safer. Certain spells I hotkey, but the keymap interface leaves a lot to be desired, and I'm not going to set up hotkeys for 20 spells or whatever.

Because then you cannot access the inventory slot under 'a' when you use the 'm' command. It'd be an odd way for the program to behave.

Alternatively, why not just have the spells have stable letterings, a-z then A-Z (is 52 enough?) so you can just type mb or mz to cast spells.

We discussed in the past having some kind of unified spell list where every spell was always under the same slot, and possessing books just added the spells to the master list. I don't think anyone thought it was an awful idea; it just has to be implemented.

[Rydel]

I think PosChengband has a system where 'm'agic and 'b'rowse always lists all of the books available to you, even if you don't own them. Making it a separate menu instead of just using the inventory means the list will always be consistent.

[Bogatyr]

I think PosChengband has a system where 'm'agic and 'b'rowse always lists all of the books available to you, even if you don't own them. Making it a separate menu instead of just using the inventory means the list will always be consistent.

Or, at least just show "book not present" in the slot (so the surprise of discovering a dungeon spellbook for the first time is not spoiled). Kind of like when you inscribe missiles with a slot number greater than the # of missile types, it shows (empty) for the in-between slots. This is probably the best solution.

[brbrbr]

Or, at least just show "book not present" in the slot (so the surprise of discovering a dungeon spellbook for the first time is not spoiled). Kind of like when you inscribe missiles with a slot number greater than the # of missile types, it shows (empty) for the in-between slots. This is probably the best solution.

I had the same problem with spells - once fingers remember the sequence it is too hard to re-learn.
I found it very easy to overcome - I use F* key binding. Key binds to the book number (i.e m1a$). So if book is burned, the macro just doesn't work, it is fault-proof.
The other advantage is that I have the same F* keys for mage, warrior and priest. F1 is for monster detection, F2 for traps/map, F3 for light, F12 for identify, etc.
That way I have to learn only one layout, and it is fault-proof.

[Bogatyr]

I had the same problem with spells - once fingers remember the sequence it is too hard to re-learn.
I found it very easy to overcome - I use F* key binding. Key binds to the book number (i.e m1a$). So if book is burned, the macro just doesn't work, it is fault-proof.
The other advantage is that I have the same F* keys for mage, warrior and priest. F1 is for monster detection, F2 for traps/map, F3 for light, F12 for identify, etc.
That way I have to learn only one layout, and it is fault-proof.

F* keys don't work for me. I'm a touch-typist using the rogue-like key set. Anything that requires me to reach too far from the touch typing "home position" slows me down.