On a run playing a paladin

[Petoften]

clvl 21. No good drops so far.

It's going ok, but a couple things I'm noticing.

No good drops so far - so weapon is just a scimitar of slay animal 4d2 +7 +8 with 34.9 damage - but that damage seems pretty low.

I just ran into a named, and hit it 3 or 4 times and it didn't even go down one *. But it did a lot of damage. So had to port instead of kill it.

(I forgot I had a couple 'mushrooms of emergency' but I'm not sure they'd have let me kill it.) So if I can't kill named to get better stuff...

Also the spell failure high rate is a bit frustrating.

So that's how the run is looking so far - kill stuff, level a bit, try named and can't kill them, recall. I have killed some named with speed/several heals.

[Petoften]

How does protection work - I have armor with protection from acid and lightning, but an attack with that still destroyed items I have.

Does it only mean the item is protected, not other items?

So there's no way to prevent those from hurting other items?

[Mondkalb]

Resistance against base four elements + poison reduces the damage to 1/3 of the current health of the monster.
Resistances stack only if they are from different sources: Resistance form equipment + temporary resistance from the spell or the potions reduces the damage to 1/9.
Items in your inventory can still be destroyed, you woul need immunity to prevent that (comes with some artifacts).

Note that damage reduction against other elements works differently, notably against nether, where the damage reduction is random and can be very minute.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

How does protection work - I have armor with protection from acid and lightning, but an attack with that still destroyed items I have.

Does it only mean the item is protected, not other items?

So there's no way to prevent those from hurting other items?

The "protection" you reference is more accurately "resistance", it is not "immunity". Resistance will decrease damage incurred, but not entirely eliminate it. You can also "double-resist" by having equipment that provides resistance and also have a "temporary resist" either from spells or consumables (e.g., a potion of Resist Heat together with a Shield of Resist Heat). There are some rare items that will grant "immunity" to an element. If @ has an immunity, only then are the items in inventory invulnerable to that element.

[Petoften]

OK, good to know - then does resistance provide any reduction to the chance for items to be destroyed?

[Mondkalb]

OK, good to know - then does resistance provide any reduction to the chance for items to be destroyed?

Unfortunately not.

[Petoften]

It does seem possible to get in situations where you have to rely on items.

For example, if I get confused, I can't read a spell to cure it. If I'm getting re-confused and damaged every turn I cure it... and can't read scrolls.

If I lose my light source, I can't cast a spell to see to read a recall scroll.

In that situation I'd just be stuck wandering the dungeon blind until I find a light source if I didn't have one.

[Mondkalb]

Those situations are to be prevented.
Detect often to avoid monsters that can confuse you, if you don't have resistance.
Buy torches or oil for your lantern in the shop if you can't find enough in the dungeon.

If you are confused there is little you can do. If it was only one monster, than you might get lucky with some cure potions. If you meet hummerhorns, you could easily die to them.

Only chances with scrolls and spells are, if you are faster than the monster(s), so a potion of speed can help.
Other than that, there is a chance to activate a staff of teleportation (or even equip a cursed teleport item and hope for the best). But of course, in Angband that could teleport you into even greater danger.

[Petoften]

Are any elements better for weapons - I found an item with lightning brand and another with cold brand for example, with similar damage.

[Petoften]

Using that better weapon, I do like 48 per round, but still had to use 3 critical heal potions and a serious to barely kill a 3 headed hydra...

[Mondkalb]

Don't find Hydras, if you can avoid them. They drop only gold and they can destroy your inventory plus, you use up your healing potions.

[Petoften]

Ran into two uniques together, had to use my emergency mushrooms and most of the remaining heal potions and speed - for almost no loot.

[Pete Mack]

To some extent. The odds of being destroyed go up with damage to the player, either 1% for low damage, 2% for moderate damage, and 3% for high damage. For the biggest breathers, however, even 1/9 damage counts as high damage. The thing to do is not melee monsters with a lot of elemental blows (various jellies, colbran, Pazuzu, etc.)

OK, good to know - then does resistance provide any reduction to the chance for items to be destroyed?

[Pete Mack]

Many uniques come in pairs. If you can't handle them, teleport (or Portal) away. You might be able to kill them with elemental rings and dragon armor, escaping to recharge in between attacks. But a better solution is to wait until you have a better weapon and/or bow.

[Petoften]

Are there unlimited mob respawns? I've killed hundreds of giant fruit flies and they are still coming.