"You found a special room" (new trap type)

[Grotug]

not only that, but the amulet slot is practically useless until DL40, as you only get resist fire / frost / lightning / acid until then.

Amulets of searching [+7] are nice, too. But yea, can't argue with weaponmastery early on with pFear, rDisenchant (great for those pesky dwarves) and FrAct, the sustains and the damage.

I think the phial should cure blindness upon activation. I keep getting blinded by Dark hounds, and this phial's description says "near it, darkness cannot endure" and yet, unless i quaff a !CLW, I will be in the dark for some time. Seems like a good alternative to giving it rDark which would be OP.

Found a staff of the magi on DL21 1-7 feeling. Not sure how restoring some mana and restoring one stat is valued so high?

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Amulets of searching [+7] are nice, too.

Why? I squelch them right away, finding them nearly as worthless as Adornment. Infravision (unless class has it naturally, and even then to increase the range) or Slow Digestion (especially for Half-trolls) are my early go-to amulets. Lightning or Acid if I don't have the resist, as a swap. Searching? Never. I'm very interested to find why you think it is so good.

Staff of Magi is arguably the best staff out there for casters. Essentially unlimited mana if you have a recharging spell (or stack of scrolls). A mage or priest with unlimited mana, now that's powerful!

[Will]

not only that, but the amulet slot is practically useless until DL40, as you only get resist fire / frost / lightning / acid until then.

Wisdom for priest/paladin, regen for others, both are very nice.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Wisdom for priest/paladin, regen for others, both are very nice.

Yeah, but I don't consider those the "early" amulets. Those are great early finds for a priest/paladin (Wisdom) or any Non-Half-Troll (Regen).

[Will]

Yeah, but I don't consider those the "early" amulets. Those are great early finds for a priest/paladin (Wisdom) or any Non-Half-Troll (Regen).

Resist Acid/Lightning, Infra and Searching start from lvl 10 while Wisdom starts from lvl 20 but it's a lot more common (alloc 50 vs 20) than the last 2. Regen is indeed a bit more uncommon and starts to drop deeper.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Please, someone, tell me why you find Searching so worthwhile. I have always found it to be nearly as worthless as Adornment.

[Grotug]

Ingwe: I play HT Warrior these days which has terrible searching ability. So even if I search a wall for a door I have a good chance of not finding it. Being able to find secret doors is useful to getting to other areas of a map. It also helps when I don't have trap detection to occasionally avoid traps I would otherwise trip over.

[Derakon]

Ingwe: I play HT Warrior these days which has terrible searching ability. So even if I search a wall for a door I have a good chance of not finding it. Being able to find secret doors is useful to getting to other areas of a map. It also helps when I don't have trap detection to occasionally avoid traps I would otherwise trip over.

As a half-troll warrior, you can dig straight through suspected doors. Doors are easier to tunnel than walls, even if you don't know the door's there. If you think there's a secret door somewhere, just tunnel into the wall. If it doesn't give out after 100 turns then there probably isn't a door there.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Ingwe: I play HT Warrior these days which has terrible searching ability. So even if I search a wall for a door I have a good chance of not finding it. Being able to find secret doors is useful to getting to other areas of a map. It also helps when I don't have trap detection to occasionally avoid traps I would otherwise trip over.

I've played a LOT of half troll warriors, they're my first go-to @ for playtesting the nightlies, followed by a priest and mage to test spells. I still never bother with amulets of searching. I'll blunder about until I get scrolls, then rods, of Door/Stair location. My HT warriors try to carry 3-5 rods of door/stair location, until they've turned up at least 3 rods of detection.

[Grotug]

I carry rods of treasure detection and trap detection, but I never carry door detection. I probably should, since I spend too much time on the early levels and need to dive faster until DL30s.

[Pete Mack]

Better to carry staffs of mapping if you can afford them.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Better to carry staffs of mapping if you can afford them.

Well, yeah, but they're rarer even than Detection. By the time I've got a few Mapping, I've usually also got some Detection and carry both.

[Derakon]

Well, yeah, but they're rarer even than Detection. By the time I've got a few Mapping, I've usually also got some Detection and carry both.

Staffs, not rods.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Staffs, not rods.

Right, gotcha. Still, my HT warrior isn't going to ditch his door/stair rods simply because he's found a staff of mapping. I'll use the mapping judiciously as it is a wasting resource. Certainly not convinced that searching amulet is all that useful.

[Grotug]

Well, this is interesting; didn't find anything interesting in the special room, but found a ring of damage [+11] in a hallway (DL24).

Found the jewel evenstar in a starting room on DL32 after reading an unknown scroll and rising through the ceiling. Nearby is a vault. Level feeling 9-6. I think I found the best item in the starting room.... I was wearing an amulet of wisdom <+2> before finding the Evenstar, so that was a pretty big upgrade for a warrior. Also nice finding an elven cloak on DL31 when I wasn't even wearing any cloak.

EDIT: Okay, recalled and immediately upon returning to the dungeon: 5-9 level feeling. Killed a dark elf or something and dropped a !Augmention. It's going to be one of those levels. Hopefully I don't die....

EDIT: Ulfang the Black summons some friends. The berserker tramples over Ulfang the Black. ~~~ Ulfang the Black probably was carrying the "9" items (something of speed no doubt), but now he is trampled out of the level?

Say, @ identifies potions once he knows what they are; why can't he identify new caps of telepathy once he's ID'd them?

EDIT: I can fire arrows at the Lurker???? Can I also fire arrows at the Trapper?

EDIT: *FINALLY* after so many good feeling levels, I actually got something good! I had a 5-9 level then a 4-9 level and came away with some good items, but no 9ers. Well, this was a 2-7 level on DL39 and I'm pretty sure ToW is one of the better weapons in the entire game. tyvm RNG. No Es or other shenanigans ruining my fun.