What to wear while delving to deep...

[tprice]

Been playing a Dwarf Priest for the first time in a few versions http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=21211

3? of Deep Decent in a row dropped me MUCH lower in the dungeon and I just got off a floor with 2 vaults where I TOed away about 12 uniques I couldn't handle and got some great new gear (BoS+10 upgraded from +5, the first ESP I've seen all game, and Godly Insights among other things). Now i need to figure out what to wear for the next trip down.

I just realized I left a =ResPoison on the floor when i Recalled that I should have swapped for the slaying ring. Not sure when i lost my poison resist, I did a stupid swap at some point. Probably changing out my Shield of Resistance for the Elvenkind shield for more stealth.

Also do I dare use the Deep Decent scrolls again right away...

Advice would be welcome.

[Pete Mack]

ODeep descent will help with vaults at this point. You're not going to be killing any monsters at native depth with that character--whether at CL 55 or CL 60. And a =rPois would not help because you'd still die at 270 damage from a single resist drolem breath.
What's your fail rate on TO spell (without the icky-weild penalty)? And the same for Heal300? At speed +10 and with full detection and ESP, that's really the limiting factor. I'd say: go for it, and hope for things with Fire/Cold/Acid damage. A nice Ice Wyrm would give you lots of EXP.
Bottom line: once you hit DL ~55, you might as well dive to speed ring depth (and beyond.) It's just not that much more dangerous, and the loot gets better fast.

[Pete Mack]

A few other things to think about: Ring of Mouse. With a weak character, melee just isn't in the cards. Better stick to spells, devices, and archery. Yeah, you have OK melee. But you have lousy CON, and you're probably undervaluing stealth. SWAP ITEMS ARE GOOD IN THE MIDGAME. In your case swapping between melee and explore+distance attacks. (Blunt) Defender+=Mouse vs. Careth Asdraig+=Slaying is the swap combo to consider.

[tprice]

A good nights sleep and reading your comments in the morning made me realize you were right. If i took off Careth Asdriag for exploring my TO spell and Heal300 were at 1% so i could drop the wands of TO. Thought hard about my books as well and left B1 behind for more space.

I speced for exploring, and dived deeper, TOed my way through 2 special rooms/small vaults (2 !exp were a nice find) then had to escape via TL up to a nice big vault that I was able to work my way through. Looking in vaults.txt it was an Hourglass vault. Lots of nice upgrades!

• The Rapier of *Slay Evil* lets me have decent damage if needed with extra Wis and no pointy weapon penalty. So Careth Asdriag can be left at home now.
• An upgraded =STR+6 lets me packmule more vs the old +3
• Star of Elendil is a straight upgrade from the Lantern of True Sight since I have inherent Resist Blind
• Pendant of Ingwë was a fairly straight replacement for my Amulet of Wis
• The Cloak of the Magi is a nice boost to stealth and has ESP so I could swap out my ESP Helm for the Crown of Might for some extra Con.
• Multiple Godly Insights and my first Purifications and Healing gave me some more advanced spells. Though I just realized Clairvoyance means I can drop those Rods of TL

I thought about swapping to the Wicker Shield of Elros for the extra Con but you are right, I need stealth right now and the extra HP wouldn't let me survive waking up more creatures right now.

Thomas Price
aka The Bookworm

[Pete Mack]

With 1 more point of WIS, Elros gives zero-fail. That'll be worth two points of stealth. Are you actually meleeing much? If not, look out for big =CON. It's better than =STR at this point; an extra 8+ points of CON would really make a difference. And it's a shame you didn't keep =Mouse while they were still in depth. That's a go-to choice for full casters, until they get decent HP.

[tprice]

I played to many fighters/ rogues recently and instinctively squelched =mouse. Now I know for the next character :-)

[luneya]

I played to many fighters/ rogues recently and instinctively squelched =mouse. Now I know for the next character :-)

You can always unsquelch it. The odds of finding a mouse ring while much deeper than its native depth are low, but you could get "lucky."

[tprice]

Well I Save Scummed a bit to see if i could figure out how to survive that deep with this character but I just didn't have the equipment or stats even after a couple more !Augmentation and !Wis. Way to much was one shoting me when i couldn't get a TO off at it due to escorts/summons.

I think its time to start over and remember that things like =mouse might be bad for melee types but are decent for spell casters...

Thomas Price

[Pete Mack]

=Mouse+Defender is a really good combo for full casters, though it's more likely for Mage, as Defender blunt weapons are pretty rare. Regen and big stealth really helps. I'd actually recommend Mage for practice diving with a fragile character. I also *strongly* recommend bumping CON a bit at the start if you plan to dive. Starting with 10 CON is a big handicap.