Just chatting about a game

[Petoften]

The classes have different spell books and even the classes with the same books might not be allowed to use them all. (Also, the effects and costs of spells are different for different classes.)
Healing spells are available to priests and paladins.
Also, I think there was a minor healing spell for rogues, but I am not sure.

There is also a new branch of the game with a different distribution of spells and even more special class-related books.

Oh, I thought mages got all the magic spells.

So is the 'basic' book only for sale in case you lose the one you start with?

[Mondkalb]

The first four spell books are always available in the shop, as are CLW potions, phase door and recall scrolls and some other basic items.

You can find more powerful spell books deeper in the dungeon.

The supply of CSW and CCW varies, sometimes you will find that they are out of stock, so if you can afford them, it is a good idea to buy some.

[Pete Mack]

If you can afford them, go for it. Carrying more than 50K gold has rapidly diminishing returns.
Here are the necessary purchases, later in the game:
* CCW - As much as you can feasible carry
* Staff of teleportation (or two if you can carry a second. )
* All town spellbooks, possibly dropping one later in the game
* recall -- stack of ~5. It's no good to get stuck without after getting fire damage.
* Phase door- stack of 10-15
* !Heroism-stack of 3 to 5 (leave this if inventory is tight. But it really helps your archery, and fear is bad for all classes in any case.)
Optional:
* Restore life
Stuff from black market (always get these if available)
* scroll of teleportation--become less useful after dl ~50.
* scroll of teleport level
* potion of healing
* scroll of *destruction*
* wand of teleport other @15000GP
* rod of teleport other
Black market (optional, as needed and affordable)
* stat potions @24000GP
* mage book 5 @30000
* ring of Free Action
* ring of CON/INT
* ring of resist poison

Other useful purchases of equipment that sometimes show up in the ordinary shops are boots of speed, armor/shield of resistance, gloves or boots of Free Action.

Now there are a lot more heal potions for sale - serious up from 3 to 21, and critical from 0 to 12 - is that normal or should I buy them all?

[Mondkalb]

Also, the town spellbooks can be destroyed by certain attacks. A mage relies very much on these books, so it is wise to carry one or two copies around, just in case ...

[Pete Mack]

Right. Town books can be destroyed by fire. On the other hand, they can also be dropped in the dungeon if you have cleared a vault and have extra loot you want to stash at home. Same for ?Recall, ?PD, basic ammo. Don't leave CCW, however, as there is no guarantee of finding it for sale.

[Sky]

It would be *nice* if the dungeon could drop books 1-4 that are also immune to destruction.

Maybe make them weight 6lb instead of 3lb to balance.

[Pete Mack]

@sky--
It'd be boring. Running out of books can be seriously scary. It makes you think when attacking that group of fire hounds.

[luneya]

If you can afford them, go for it. Carrying more than 50K gold has rapidly diminishing returns.
Here are the necessary purchases, later in the game:
* CCW - As much as you can feasible carry
* Staff of teleportation (or two if you can carry a second. )
* All town spellbooks, possibly dropping one later in the game
* recall -- stack of ~5. It's no good to get stuck without after getting fire damage.
* Phase door- stack of 10-15
* !Heroism-stack of 3 to 5 (leave this if inventory is tight. But it really helps your archery, and fear is bad for all classes in any case.)
Optional:
* Restore life
Stuff from black market (always get these if available)
* scroll of teleportation--become less useful after dl ~50.
* scroll of teleport level
* potion of healing
* scroll of *destruction*
* wand of teleport other @15000GP
* rod of teleport other
Black market (optional, as needed and affordable)
* stat potions @24000GP
* mage book 5 @30000
* ring of Free Action
* ring of CON/INT
* ring of resist poison

Other useful purchases of equipment that sometimes show up in the ordinary shops are boots of speed, armor/shield of resistance, gloves or boots of Free Action.

Note that gloves or boots of FA are preferable to the ring, as you can find lots of better rings, but very few non-artifact gloves or boots that beat FA. And as a red-book class, you really want the gloves, as they are among the few gloves that you can wear without a spellcasting penalty. Until you get those gloves, you should visit the armor shop first thing each time you return to town. The armor shop will also sometimes carry caps of seeing, which are very useful if you don't find a lantern of true sight.

[Petoften]

Well that's really frustrating. I was doing great, and got a little careless when there was one low level mob, and suddenly it spawned three crows surrounding me, and I cast a poison cloud on them that fizzled, and then in those two turns they killed my char and it could have been avoided. I had no idea the low level things would do so much damage so fast - it was just hit space several times in a row while they hit.

[Philip]

Would you mind posting a dump? Crows are pretty nasty, but they really shoudn't be able to one-shot a character like that. How much damage did they do in the two rounds? Also, how did the crows pop up?

In any case, the lesson you should take from this is probably not to let more than one thing be next to you at any time, if the crows came from a trap to always detect traps, if they came from a monster to watch out for summoners, and not to do things that have a high chance of failing.

[Pete Mack]

If you're surrounded by crows they'll kill you fast enough. One on one they are no threat. Detect monster should let you fight monsters from the safety of a hallway in any case.

[Mondkalb]

Maybe they also were hasted by a shrieker mushroom ...

[Petoften]

Would you mind posting a dump? Crows are pretty nasty, but they really shoudn't be able to one-shot a character like that. How much damage did they do in the two rounds? Also, how did the crows pop up?

In any case, the lesson you should take from this is probably not to let more than one thing be next to you at any time, if the crows came from a trap to always detect traps, if they came from a monster to watch out for summoners, and not to do things that have a high chance of failing.

When I was fighting one golden bird type mob, the next turn there were three black crows next to me. How can I get a dump now?

One detail I didn't mention is that my spellbook with self teleport had recently been burned up by a salamander and I hadn't replaced it yet.

[Philip]

The cost of leaving the dungeon is minimal - 500 gold approximately. As you saw, the cost of wandering around without vital equipment is possibly death. Generally, try to carry at least two copies of books that can be burned, and recall at the end of the level when one gets burned up. If both get burned up, recall immediately.

Gotta say I have no clue what the golden bird type mob could have been. I'm less familiar with new V.

You probably can't get a dump of that character any more, but just in case, try loading the savefile of the dead character and see if it allows you to see the character screen one last time and take the dump there. Otherwise, during gameplay you can get a character dump at any time in the character screen, or on death you can get one as well.

[Pete Mack]

I don't think there are any "golden bird type" mobs. The only thing that might be close is Hummmerhorns, and with them,you have a much bigger problem than other monsters showing up. (Only possible escape is staff of teleportation.) Also: are you sure they were crows? Crebain come in mobs, and look similar, but their color changes between dark and lighter grey. That would explain
A. The sudden appearance of darker birds
B. Why they were able to kill you with so many hits. (They shriek, and haste everything in line of sight.)