Just chatting about a game

[Petoften]

Started playing it a little bit ago, haven't gotten far, but now I have a level 5 gnome mage who found a named dagger.

Woo hoo. It has 2d4, (+10, +12) [+10]. That's making the top dungeon levels very easy. I'm not sure what the [+10] is doing.

Main danger seems to be gas traps - hit that with monsters around and I can't hit them, can't cast on them, can't cast escape spells...

[Sideways]

Welcome to the forum!

The [+10] is an AC (armor class) bonus.

[Gwarl]

tip: potions of cure light wounds will also cure blindness. They are always in stock and only cost 15 gold each so there's no excuse not to carry a couple when you first set out to the dungeon.

[Grotug]

Welcome! That dagger is a good find. AC is hard to come by for mages since they don't want to be encumbered by heavy armors.

[luneya]

And since you're new, and that dagger is clearly one of the 'Thancs, you should also know that you can activate it by pressing shift-a to shoot an elemental magic bolt at the enemies. There are actually three nearly identical artifact daggers of that sort: one that does fire, one ice, and one lightning. The lightning one is generally most useful because it hits a whole line of enemies rather than just a single target.

[Petoften]

Thanks for the comments.

I was used to rogue which is less forgiving - what a nice surprise when I found things like potion of light healing curing blindness (and bleeding and poison?)

I don't have any feel yet for how much benefit AC 10 is, but any bit helps.

Good to know about activating the dagger - I'm not sure how much damage it would do compared to my magic missiles. Is it unlimited use?

Almost got into trouble finding a room of mushrooms that blinded, but got away.

[Petoften]

OK I see cure light wounds doesn't cure poison.

[kaypy]

It can be used periodically.

There are are two broad types of usable items: wands and staffs have a limited number or charges (but can potentially be recharged)

rods and artifacts have a single charge, but will automatically recharge themselves after a (sometimes pretty long) delay

A 'thanc will hit harder than a magic missile. Useful both as a bigger whack to get a tough fight started right, or as a fallback if your mana runs low (but unlikely to be both!)

After the first time you use it, there should be details if you (I)nspect it.

Some of the stronger healing potions will cure poison. But even a lowly CLW will keep you alive longer for the poison to timeout 8-)

[Petoften]

The inventory limit is pretty limiting. Dropped things like potions of heroism and berserker strength, about to drop scrolls of blessing, not sure what they do.

Getting to the point around dungeon level 10 that the dagger isn't at all any safe adventuring, it takes several hits to kill things now and I lose most my health...

[Pete Mack]

If you are playing mage, melee won't work for long, even with a *Thanc weapon. Plan on using spells and devices for damage, and phase door to avoid melee. A low level mage needs to rely on the scroll rather than the spell, because (a) he doesn't have enough mana and (b) failures are really dangerous, in part because of (a).

Note: mage is a particularly difficult class for newbies because the tendency is to want to kill all monsters (aka: clearing levels.) This is a bad strategy in general, but it's a disastrous strategy for mages. The usual strategy for mages is to run away. More specifically: pick your targets carefully. However, this requires prior knowledge of what--and where--those targets are.

Edit: if you are used to rogue, then you don't need advice. Angband is much easier. Just carry plenty of phase and curing potions, and you'll do fine. Once you get the hang of it, you might try playing Sil.

[Petoften]

Ya, I was already using a hybrid approach of spells for ranged and the great dagger for when you can't, and that's getting increasingly dangerous.

I have run away when it's dangerous - there was just some black dragonling type thing I hit twice and it didn't kill it and ran to the stairs.

The hard part seems to be when something has an effect that prevents my being able to use spells or scrolls - or getting swarmed when even phase door might not get me to a safe area, but just next to more monsters in the room. But I expect to use the dagger less - though its 'activate' has one shotted a lot.

[Pete Mack]

You have detect monster spell. Avoid those situations where PD won't get you away from big groups of orcs and trolls. Those are *the* biggest killers of early mages. Later, you can handle them fairly easily by other techniques like lightning bolt in a hallway, or just teleport self. At that point, it's individual monster that will kill you. The first such is Bullroarer, if you don't know what you're doing. (If you do, he's an easy target.) Later the number becomes to big to count. The first really surprising one is Dark Elven Lord (DL ,~21L, who *will* kill any mage who gets close. There are plenty of others who just wear you down and exhaust your resources. 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.

[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.

[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.

[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.