Hobbit Ranger

[Grotug]

So I guess I finally got tired of HT Warrior. Having really good fortunes so far as a Hobbit Ranger.

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=20021

[Sky]

not sure why HT is such a big thing for warriors; his HP are almost the same (1200 vs 1050~1100), has a horrible -4 DEX, and regen is so common, AND it eats a ton of food. Dunedain / High Elf have better stats in just about everything.

[AnonymousHero]

not sure why HT is such a big thing for warriors; his HP are almost the same (1200 vs 1050~1100), has a horrible -4 DEX, and regen is so common, AND it eats a ton of food. Dunedain / High Elf have better stats in just about everything.

It's probably the XP penalty. It's no biggie at lower levels, but boy does it suck on later levels.

[Estie]

Who (except for Derakon) says HT is the best ? They are so-so, but everyone loves them.

[Nivra]

HT warriors are awesome!

It's not just the end-game HP diff of 1200 vs. 1050. It's the HP difference from early thru mid-game.

[Derakon]

Yeah, in terms of absolute power they're not amazing. Races with better intrinsics and more balanced stats will be more powerful in the late game. But they make the early- and middle-game much easier IME, thanks to their beastly STR, regeneration, and the larger hit die (at a time when hit die dominates over CON bonuses for determining hitpoints). And it's not like they're awful in the lategame either; STR and CON are reliably important stats and they have to put much less effort into maxing them, which gives half-trolls more leeway for equipping other gear -- at the cost of course of needing to equip other gear to get their abysmal other stats up, assuming you care.

Half-Trolls also make great beginner characters, in part due to the above, but in no small part because they make such awful mages that beginners are less inclined to try to play as a mage if they're told to play a half-troll.

[Sky]

i used to play HT years ago, and i kept dying of hunger - sometimes when i had food in my pack. I think "auto-clear -more- prompts" must have been on dy default, version 3- something probably.

Derakon and Hero, you both make valid points; the last 5-6 CL with a high elf are a massive pain in the butt, and you'll most likely make them by drinking potions of experience, rather than killing mobs.
IIRC the last character levels are 500k/600k/1m XP.

[Werbaer]

not sure why HT is such a big thing for warriors; his HP are almost the same (1200 vs 1050~1100), has a horrible -4 DEX, and regen is so common, AND it eats a ton of food.

In older days, you didn't get stats restored on level-up. For a quick run down the dungeon, half-troll didn't care about stat drains; strength is sustained, dex doesn't matter (or did't before fractional blows were introduced).

[Egavactip]

Half-Trolls also make great beginner characters, in part due to the above, but in no small part because they make such awful mages that beginners are less inclined to try to play as a mage if they're told to play a half-troll.

This past weekend, I had my first win (out of two attempts) with a half troll mage and it was a lot easier than I had feared it would be. The early hit points really do help in during a fragile period in the life of a mage.

In my first attempt, the character also got some early intel boosts, which made him much more like a "normal" mage. That, plus an excellent crossbow, had him rocking and rolling until he met a mysterious death.

In my second attempt, the intel came a lot more slow, so there was a mid-game period where he was a poor spellcaster and a poor fighter. Eventually, however, another good crossbow helped him surmount that to the point where he started to get good. By the endgame, I was able to play him pretty much like any other mage.

So I would not try to dissuade anyone from from trying a half-troll mage.

[Grotug]

HT Mage sounds reasonable; I may give it a go....

Presently, though, I'm on DL23 (hobbit ranger) with no good gear to speak of, though I just picked up a long bow of might. I do not know what its to-dam is. The level feeling is 6 and I am wondering if I should take on a mold and jelly (ochres and oozes) pit or head for the stairs. The only base resist I have is rCold though I may have picked up rAcid with this amulet I just picked up. I think I'll head for the stairs.

[Monkey Face]

Presently, though, I'm on DL23 (hobbit ranger) with no good gear to speak of, though I just picked up a long bow of might. I do not know what its to-dam is. The level feeling is 6 and I am wondering if I should take on a mold and jelly (ochres and oozes) pit or head for the stairs.

That's what ID by use if for. Shoot the next monster you see with the bow and it will tell you the to-dam plus.

[Grotug]

That's what ID by use if for. Shoot the next monster you see with the bow and it will tell you the to-dam plus.

Yes, yes, I know. Problem is is the next monster I'm likely to see is a jelly, since the pit has been woken and is not too far from the 'u' pit I just cleared. edit: (+12,+8) good enough to make comfortable for the DL I'm at (this was first level after DD from town).

And just picked up a ring of escaping, so given that my melee is max 58 against trolls, orcs, giants, seems I should main the RoS and keep heavily stocked on arrows. Hmm... maybe I will pick up that ring of the mouse I dropped earlier and swap it for the ring of reckless attacks.

is AC useful against enemy arrows? What other ranged attacks is it useful for? Wondering if I should swap out a robe of rCold (2, -2) for an average armor (42, 0). Probably not since the heavy armor slows me down.

[AnonymousHero]

FWIW, jelly pits are basically never worth it regardless of level and/or resistances. Conclusion: Skip or go further down.

[Grotug]

So, not that anyone cares :P, but I am going to put newer stuff at the top of this post. So each paragraph block will represent an update, with the newest at top, and the oldest at the bottom.

Also found a heavy xbow of (+24) in that room with Oromë and Brukkelehed, but not sure the weight is worth it. Probably, though, since Oromë will compensate the loss in speed. Of course I get extra shots with the bow, but the bow only has (+8). I also have 17 bolts of frost I was keeping at home. I think I may go with the xbow.

Hallelujia Oromë!! Wahhoo, I have all the luck! Unbelievable. I will try not to kill this hobbit like I did the last one that found Oromë. Oromë is one of the best weapons an Intel relying caster can find (at least that I am aware of). I can't remember if it has FrAct, (I ID'd it, it doesn't, but that's why I saved a =FrAct at home) but man, I sure did luck out on this level. All the OoD monsters were 1) not that OoD, 2) relatively safe for my @ with his current abilities and 3) the one that was way OoD, was a sole hound, which by themselves are relatively easy to deal with.



Beorn and friends are in the room with the ? in it above where @ is. I kept ?phasing out of the top hallway into his lair. The Hydra/snake pit is in the middle of the level where another ? is. So I found two ?identify. These need to be used oh so carefully! Of course I could cheat and ask what powers Brukkelheled confirs (my current weapon is my only source of FrAct) but I do not want to cheat. Then there is an unID'd scroll that might be worth IDing (I already have ?teleport, but not ?telelevel and I opted to buy rod of frost bolts over ?banishment, which I am feeling a bit dubious about, but so often I hang onto ?banishments and have them destroyed before I use them.

I walked a little ways away from the far edge of the map, to help the RNG not put me back somewhere dangerous I had teleported from and went to pick up a ring, but got poisoned by said ring, so I teleported and ended up with a clear path back to the treasure room! Just a few more mature dragons to deal with and a pass-through-walls elemental and I'll be homefree to investigate all the loot. The brown E is hard to kill since I'm really trying to avoid taking off my ring of the mouse (I really don't want to wake up the beorn room).

[second update below]

So it was more or less working well, but I keep ?phasing into the Beorn room. The second time I did, I _teleported to a bad place; a hydra pit. I can deal with a hydra one on one, but not a pit of nasties. So I teleported again, but my position again did not improve. I teleported again and now I am as far from the room I was working on clearing as I could be (the one with tons of treasures and the likely spot for the 7 feeling, though I suppose the more dangerous hydra pit could also be). Teleporting back to it seems unlikely now. So my options seem to be to either work my way back over there the old fashioned way, and thus swap out my ring of escaping for ring of CON and the ring of the mouse for ring of strength (both <+2>). I don't think I'll be able to range attack my way back to that room. I think some melee is going to be necessary or I will run out of arrows. I am already out of normal arrows, and have about 40 between my poison and {excellent} arrows. The stealth has really been working well, though (superb, thanks to my class/race and the ring of mouse). I only have 5 teleport charges left. I also just picked up a book that allows me to teleport self, but it uses 1/3 of my mana. I used my last !restore mana already.

[First update below]

Yes, I hit the >. So this was interesting, I detected monsters nearby, saw a few OOD things, but nothing really of great concern. Beorn (not OoD) probably the biggest threat. Decided to try to kill the pukelman in the room, which I did without much trouble, though I lost my staff of identify to an acid bolt. I go to pick up the arrows and I am hit by a nether hound. I resist the effect, but I don't have rNether (I sustain my lifeforce natively, though). So I decide at (80) per breath 1 time in 5 I can risk trying to take it down with my arrows of venom. He gives me a little trouble since he passes through walls and I had to phase out when he got next to me, which took me into a hallway adjacent to the starting room where I started fighting him. Anyway, danced around some other monsters while trying to get him while not in a wall. Right before I had killed him I looked at the points I get for killing him: over 17,000 points! Holy moly. Its native depth was DL59. I think I was CL23 with 1000 points to go. Now I am CL26 with 1360 points till next level. I'm on DL32 with danger level of 5.

I'm low on supplies, though. No identify, a staff of CLW, 8 !CSW, 1 !CCW, 2 !healing, no speed buff except this =Escaping I'm maining. Not sure how many arrows I have left, since there are a few monsters between me and the rest of my arrows in the starting room, since I never got to pick them up. And only 5 ?Phase door. I do have 1 !Restore mana. I'm thinking I am not strong enough to try to go treasure hunting on this level. If I can avoid Beorn and if I do not mind using up my arrows of venom and my {excellent} arrows I might be able to get somewhere. I do not know the treasure feeling of the level, but considering I picked up a spell book with Teleother in it (I can't cast it yet) the level likely has something worthwhile on it.

Just quaffed an unID'd potion. I already know rPoison and nPoison, I had 205/209 health and 7 mana (already know !restore mana), yet the potion gives {tried}. I can't think what it could be.

[luneya]

If you haven't identified all of the harmful potions yet, they're the most obvious candidates for a {tried} result once boldness and neutralize poison are known. If you quaff slowness or sleep while having free action, it does nothing. Likewise with the other status inflicters and the corresponding resistances, though those cases are rarer.