Just chatting about a game

[Mondkalb]

Mapping can be very handy. Boldness and blessing are nearly useless for a mage. You probably won't need infrared.

[Petoften]

Deciding what to get rid of for inventory space for the heal potions (both light and serious are in the temple)...

Cold resist, boldness, neutralize poison, true seeing, see infrared, identify rune, phase door, magic mapping, treasure detection, satisfy hunger (I already dropped food), word of recall and blessing. Most likely to ditch seem to be mapping, blessing, and boldness?

[Petoften]

Slow digestion is a waste of time. Drop food whenever you run out of inventory space.

OK - that's another difference from Rogue, where food was a lot scarcer and it was important to avoid running out.

[Pete Mack]

There is always CLW in the temple. But for the better potions, but them when you can. Later in the game, running out of CCW is disastrous. Slow digestion is a waste of time. Drop food whenever you run out of inventory space.

[luneya]

I think 4.1.2 should have CLW potions always available. They're at the temple, not the alchemist.

Enchant weapon/armor can work on artifacts, but the fail rate is ridiculously high. It's better just to use the scrolls on something else--either your bow or some arrows in the ench weap case, or in the armor case, a useful ego armor such as boots of speed or sheld/armor of elvenkind. In addition to the artifact issue, fail rate increases with the level of existing enchantment; it's not worth trying to get any single item above +8 or so. Spread out your enchantments over everything that you expect to be keeping for a while.

Farmer Maggot takes a lot of hits to kill, but he can't do anything to you but run away, and he sometimes drops good stuff, so it's worth the effort. Try to pin him into a corner of the map. (Incidentally, he asks you what you did to his dogs even if you haven't actually killed them yet. The monster action code isn't that sophisticated.)

[Petoften]

No idea about the potion? I've put off the game hoping there's a way to get one as going back without that seems a bit dangerous.

Wonder if I should use a ring or amulet of slow digestion... I'm sure stuff is coming better for one slot or the other. Darn full inv.

Bought a scroll of enchant weapon for the named dagger.

Didn't work (enchantment failed)... Not allowed?

[Petoften]

This is 4.1.2. Wow, just looked at the dagger and its activate does 9d8 fire damage, recharhing in 9 to 16 turns.

[Mondkalb]

Which version are you playing? CLW should always be in stock in the latest versions.

You can kill Farmer Maggot if you wish so. He may drop a useful item (or not ...).

[Petoften]

Should I kill farmer maggot in town?

He's following saying he wants him mushrooms back and that I killed his dog.

I started to attack him but several hits didn't kill him and he's not attacking, so I stopped.

[Petoften]

Hm, I ran out of cure light wound potions, and was somewhat low on health and ran into a black harpy so I door gated.

Had to do it a few times because it kept finding me and hitting me. Finally I got to stairs - and they led to several monsters right on top of them.

So I took them back down - whew - it seems to randomize each level every time you enter it.

Finally the recall scroll kicked in and I was back in town to shop for CLW potions, but there are none in the store...

I though someone said they're always stocked.

[Petoften]

When an equipped item glows, it's a sign of partial identification. So for a fire trap like you hit, it tells you that the dagger has fire resistance. With rune ID, you'll recognize this feature for all further objects. (Scrolls of ID do the same thing.)

By around DL 40, you should have all the "base 4" elements covered: fire, cold, acid, elec. And at CL 40, poison resist gets more valuable, especially if you don't know which monsters can kill you in a turn or two. (E.g., the drolem does 710 poison damage, so it'll kill a mage twice over.)

So, what should I do when I see those rune traps?

[Pete Mack]

When an equipped item glows, it's a sign of partial identification. So for a fire trap like you hit, it tells you that the dagger has fire resistance. With rune ID, you'll recognize this feature for all further objects. (Scrolls of ID do the same thing.)

By around DL 40, you should have all the "base 4" elements covered: fire, cold, acid, elec. And at CL 40, poison resist gets more valuable, especially if you don't know which monsters can kill you in a turn or two. (E.g., the drolem does 710 poison damage, so it'll kill a mage twice over.)

[Petoften]

Ya, I've long said that IMO Rogue is the most tense game I've ever played. Each step you take is terrifying at times.

I'm wondering what these round things are that seem to be called 'rune traps'.

Once I stepped on one and it said my (named) dagger lit up.

I'm not sure what that meant - one theory is that it added a fire damage bonus to the dagger?

It also sometimes says I learned a rune, not sure what that means.

Seems safer to avoid them, and I usually set off traps I try to disarm.

I'm doing the old amulet of slow digestion, ring of searching combo.

[Pete Mack]

@Pondlife: good point.
The detect monsters point still stands. Detection is the #1 reason Angband is easier than rogue. #2 is teleportation and other escapes. #3 is more reliable healing. But detection trumps all: with it, you can avoid nearly all potentially fatal encounters.

[Pondlife]

The other big danger at dl 20-30 is paralyzation. Eventually you should memorize the list so you can avoid them while you dive. IN the short run, Free Action solves the problem completely.

In this case the OP is playing a Gnome, so has innate free action.