[NPP] Which monsters could kill a character like this?

[Nemesis]

This is my first serious game of NPPAngband. All previous characters I've had were infant mortalities (I tend to take lots of crazy risks in the beginning when I've got nothing to lose) but I'd really like this character to make it as far as possible! I've never spent any time worth mentioning on Vanilla but I've actually won Quickband with my third serious character so I know I can get far if I just take it easy.

I think I'm doing pretty fine with this Dunadan Paladin as he's got lots of resistances (the basics, poison, confusion, blindness, dark, fear, paralyzation, see invisible, disintergration and hold life). I also raised my stats quite a bit and have a few weapons to choose from; right now I'm using a sword that gives me six swings! You can see the rest of my stats and stuff at the bottom of this very post.

What I wantet to know is simply which monsters that are capable of killing me? What do I have to look out for at my dungeon level and when do new serious threats show up?

Yes, I know I posted this in the Vanilla forum section but neither your variant forum nor the official NPP forum seems to be very active. Besides, there aren't that many new monsters in NPP.

However, IF someone who plays NPPAngband reads this, I have a couple of other questions?

1. I had to run for my life a couple of times while doing quests and now my reputation is ruined. As new quests always seems to be three or so levels below my max depth, it looks like the number of quests avalible is rather finite. Have I ruined my questing career permanently now?

2. My current quest is to clear out a "cave dweller stronghold". That's orcs, trolls and giants, right? Those I can stand, but things like Cyclops and Titans are all Greek to me. Do I have to face those guys too in this dungeon level 30 cave dweller stronghold?

The "quest difficulty is based on your max dungeon depth" is really doing a great job when it comes to discourage me from diving, btw!

  [NPPAngband 0.5.0-BETA6 Character Dump]

 Name   Nemesis                           Self RB CB  EB   Best
 Sex    Male           Age      51 STR:  18/87 +1 +3  +6 18/187
 Race   Dunadan        Height   82 INT:     14 +2 -3  +2     15
 Class  Paladin        Weight  143 WIS:     15 +2 +1  +0     18
 Title  Guardian       Status   34 DEX:  18/16 +2 +0  +0  18/36
 HP     378/378                    CON:     16 +3 +2  +0  18/30
 SP     47/47          Level    31 CHR:  18/63 +2 +2  +0 18/103

 GameTurn     1472562  Armor   [28,+78] Saving Throw     Superb
 PlayerTurn    143444  Fight  (+15,+15) Stealth       Excellent
 Cur Exp       291138  Melee  (+23,+27) Fighting      Legendary
 Max Exp       291138  Shoot  (+26,+10) Shooting      Legendary
 Adv Exp       322500  Blows     6/turn Disarming     Very Good
 MaxDepth     Lev  28  Shots     2/turn Magic Device     Superb
 Gold           59749  Speed     Normal Perception    Very Good
 Burden       120 lbs  Infra       0 ft Searching     Very Good
 % Burden         40%

 You are one of several children of a Yeoman. You are a credit
 to the family. You have brown eyes, straight black hair, and a
 very dark complexion.



  [Character Equipment Stat Modifiers, Sustains and Flags]

(+/-)   + +     + 
      |}=="~[()]]]               |}=="~[()]]]
      abcdefghijkl@              abcdefghijkl@
 Str: ..4.......2..        Str:  ..s.....s....
 Int: ....2........        Int:  ....s........
 Wis: .............        Wis:  .............
 Dex: .............        Dex:  ........s....
 Con: .............        Con:  ........s...s
 Chr: .............        Chr:  .............
      abcdefghijkl@              abcdefghijkl@ 
 Acid:......++.....        Blind:.........+... 
 Elec:.......+.....        Confu:....+........ 
 Fire:.......+.....        Sound:............. 
 Cold:...+...+.....        Shard:............. 
 Pois:.......+.....        Nexus:............. 
 Fear:.....+.......        Nethr:............. 
 Lite:.............        Chaos:............. 
 Dark:........+....        Disen:........+.... 
      abcdefghijkl@              abcdefghijkl@ 
S.Dig:.............        Stea.:...........+.
Feath:.............        Sear.:....+....+...
PLite:.............        Infra:.............
Regen:.............        Aggr.:.............
Telep:.............        Speed:.............
Invis:....+....+...        Blows:+............
FrAct:....+........        Shots:.+...........
HLife:........+....        Might:.............
      abcdefghijkl@              abcdefghijkl@
      |}=="~[()]]]               |}=="~[()]]] 

  [Character Equipment]

a) a Small Sword of Extra Attacks (1d6) (+8,+12) (+2)
   It increases your attack speed by 2.  It gives you 6 attacks
   per turn.  
   It was bought in a store.
b) a Long Bow of Extra Shots (x3) (+11,+10) (+1)
   It increases your shooting speed by 1.  
   It was lying on the floor on dungeon level 18.
c) a Marble Ring of Strength (+4)
   It increases your strength by 4.  It sustains your strength.  
d) an Emerald Ring of Ice [+15]
   It provides resistance to cold.  It activates for cold
   resistance (20+d20 turns) and cold ball (75) every 50+d50 turns.
   It was lying on the floor on dungeon level 20.
e) an Amber Amulet of the Magi [+6] (+2)
   It increases your intelligence by 2.  It increases your 
   searching by 2.  It provides resistance to confusion.  It
   sustains your intelligence.  It grants you immunity to
   paralysis and the ability to see invisible things.  It cannot
   be harmed by the elements.  
   It was lying on the floor on dungeon level 21.
f) a Brass Lantern of Bravery (with 14974 turns of light)
   It provides resistance to fear.  It cannot be harmed by fire.
g) Metal Brigandine Armour of Resist Elements (-3) [19,+13] {RAcid, 10% off}
   It provides resistance to acid.  It cannot be harmed by acid.
h) The Cloak 'Colluin' [1,+15]
   It provides resistance to acid, lightning, fire, cold, and 
   poison.  It activates for resistance (20+d20 turns) every 111
   turns.  It cannot be harmed by the elements.  
   It was lying on the floor on dungeon level 18.
i) a Small Metal Shield of Preservation [3,+19] {RDark}
   It provides resistance to dark, disenchantment, and life
   draining.  It sustains your strength, dexterity, and 
   constitution.  It cannot be harmed by the elements.  
   It was bought in a store.
j) a Hard Leather Cap of Seeing [2,+1] (+3 to searching)
   It increases your searching by 3.  It provides resistance to 
   blindness.  It grants you the ability to see invisible things.
k) a Set of Leather Gloves of Power (+2,+1) [1,+5] (+2)
   It increases your strength by 2.  
l) a Pair of Soft Leather Boots of Stealth [2,+2] (+3)
   It increases your stealth by 3.  


  [Character Inventory]

a) 3 Holy Books of Prayers [Beginners Handbook]
b) 2 Holy Books of Prayers [Words of Wisdom]
c) 2 Holy Books of Prayers [Chants and Blessings]
d) 2 Holy Books of Prayers [Godly Insights]
   It cannot be harmed by the elements.  
e) 6 Brown Speckled Potions of Speed
f) 9 Bubbling Potions of Cure Critical Wounds
g) 2 Scrolls titled "mikox derban" of Teleportation
h) 5 Scrolls titled "snehyd bit pot" of Teleport Level
i) 8 Scrolls titled "i fidorn zun" of Word of Recall
j) 20 Scrolls titled "vlypay usef" of Identify
k) a Runed Rod of Magic Mapping
   It was lying on the floor on dungeon level 27.
l) a Zinc Rod of Stone to Mud
m) 2 Mithril Rods of Acid Balls
n) 4 Zirconium Wands of Teleport Other (39 charges)
o) 2 Zinc-Plated Wands of Disarming (9 charges)

  [Home Inventory Stat Modifiers, Sustains and Flags]

(+/-)              + ++  ++  + 
       ?,!!???--__===""~((]]||\        ?,!!???--__===""~((]]||\
       abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwx        abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwx
 Str:  ...................1..1.  Str:  ........................
 Int:  ..................1.....  Int:  ..................s.....
 Wis:  ........................  Wis:  ........................
 Dex:  ............3..1......1.  Dex:  ............s..s........
 Con:  ......................1.  Con:  ........................
 Chr:  ..............6.........  Chr:  ..............s.........
       abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwx        abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwx
 Acid: .................+...... Blind: ........................
 Elec: .................+...... Confu: .......................+
 Fire: .................+...+.+ Sound: ........................
 Cold: .................+...... Shard: ........................
 Pois: ...............+........ Nexus: ...............+........
 Fear: ........................ Nethr: ........................
 Lite: ........................ Chaos: ........................
 Dark: .................+...... Disen: ........................
       abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwx        abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwx
S.Dig: ........................ Stea.: ...............+.++....+
Feath: ........................ Sear.: ...............+........
PLite: ..................+..... Infra: ...............+........
Regen: ........................ Aggr.: ........................
Telep: ........................ Speed: ...............+........
Invis: ......................+. Blows: ........................
FrAct: ...........+........+.+. Shots: ........................
HLife: ........................ Might: ........................
       abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwx        abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwx
       ?,!!???--__===""~((]]||\        ?,!!???--__===""~((]]||\

  [Home Inventory]

a) a Holy Book of Prayers [Ethereal Openings]
   It cannot be harmed by the elements.  
b) a White Mushroom of Restoring
c) 5 Oily Yellow Potions of Healing
d) a Pungent Potion of *Healing*
   It was lying on the floor on dungeon level 24.
e) 5 Scrolls titled "vlycre vommi" of *Identify*
f) a Scroll titled "sun dannis" of Protection from Evil
g) a Scroll titled "ablaa wex rok" of *Destruction*
h) a Zinc-Plated Rod of Light
i) a Brass Wand of Trap/Door Destruction (7 charges)
j) a Walnut Staff of Holiness (4 charges)
   It was lying on the floor on dungeon level 16.
k) a Birch Staff of Banishment (3 charges)
   It was lying on the floor on dungeon level 6.
l) an Amethyst Ring of Free Action
   It grants you immunity to paralysis.  
m) a Silver Ring of Dexterity (+3)
   It increases your dexterity by 3.  It sustains your dexterity.
n) a Ruby Ring of Damage (+13)
o) a Sea Shell Amulet of Charisma (+6)
   It increases your charisma by 6.  It sustains your charisma.  
p) an Ivory Amulet of Trickery (+1)
   It increases your dexterity by 1.  It increases your stealth, 
   searching, infravision, and speed by 1.  It provides
   resistance to poison and nexus.  It sustains your dexterity.  
   It was lying on the floor on dungeon level 26.
q) The Phial of Galadriel
   It lights the dungeon around you.  It activates for
   illumination every 10+d10 turns.  It cannot be harmed by the
   elements.  
   It was lying on the floor on dungeon level 20.
r) Hard Leather Armour of Elvenkind (-1) [6,+10] (+1 to stealth) {RDark}
   It increases your stealth by 1.  It provides resistance to 
   acid, lightning, fire, cold, and dark.  It cannot be harmed
   by the elements.  
   It was a reward for your exploits on dungeon level 27.
s) a Cloak of the Magi [1,+11] (+1) {PLite}
   It increases your intelligence by 1.  It increases your 
   stealth by 1.  It sustains your intelligence.  It lights the
   dungeon around you.  It cannot be harmed by acid.  
t) a Set of Gauntlets of Power (+2,+3) [2,+4] (+1)
   It increases your strength by 1.  
u) a Pair of Soft Leather Boots of Free Action [2,+3]
   It grants you immunity to paralysis.  
v) The Well-balanced Dagger 'Narthanc' (2d4) (+4,+6)
   It is branded with fire.  It provides resistance to fire.  It 
   can be thrown hard and fast.  It activates for fire bolt
   (9d8) every 8+d8 turns.  It cannot be harmed by the elements.
   It gives you 4 attacks per turn.  
   It was dropped by a Dark elven warrior on dungeon level 11.
w) a Short Sword of Westernesse (1d7) (+6,+12) (+1)
   It increases your strength, dexterity, and constitution by 1.
   It slays orcs, trolls, and giants.  It grants you immunity to
   paralysis and the ability to see invisible things.  It gives
   you 4 attacks per turn.  
   It was lying on the floor on dungeon level 17.
x) The Flail 'Totila' (3d6) (+6,+8) (+2 to stealth)
   It increases your stealth by 2.  It slays all evil creatures.
   It is branded with fire.  It provides resistance to fire and 
   confusion.  It activates for confuse monster every 15 turns.  
   It cannot be harmed by the elements.  It gives you 3 attacks
   per turn.  
   It was lying on the floor on dungeon level 25.

  [Current Quest]

Clear out a cave dweller stronghold on dungeon level 30.


Nemesis the Dunadan Paladin
Began the quest to kill Morgoth on 09/23/2009 at 10:45 AM
============================================================
                   CHAR.  
|   TURN  | DEPTH |LEVEL| EVENT
============================================================
|   105972|     1 |  5  | Reached level 5
|   137095|     2 |  6  | Killed Grip, Farmer Maggot's dog
|   160845|     3 |  7  | Killed Fang, Farmer Maggot's dog
|   162950|     3 |  7  | Killed Wolf, Farmer Maggot's dog
|   198889|     3 | 10  | Reached level 10
|   336353|     6 | 14  | Quest: Killed 13 Ogres
|   386382|     8 | 14  | Killed Lagduf, the Snaga
|   386831|     7 | 15  | Reached level 15
|   393734|     6 | 15  | Killed Bullroarer the Hobbit
|   398868|  Town | 15  | Killed Lotho Pimple
|   420815|     3 | 15  | Killed Smeagol
|   562831|     9 | 19  | Quest: Cleared out a creeping coin nest.
|   568864|     9 | 19  | Killed Brodda, the Easterling
|   591238|    11 | 20  | Reached level 20
|   594983|    11 | 20  | Quest: Cleared out an orc pit.
|   605339|    12 | 20  | Killed Mughash the Kobold Lord
|   605869|    11 | 20  | Found The Well-balanced Dagger 'Narthanc'
|   619769|    13 | 20  | Killed Wormtongue, Agent of Saruman
|   646613|    15 | 22  | Quest: Failed to clear out a minor demon 
|  continued...   |     |  stronghold. 
|   648841|    16 | 22  | Killed Ulfast, Son of Ulfang
|   719624|    19 | 24  | Killed Shagrat, the Orc Captain
|   753755|    21 | 25  | Reached level 25
|   753755|    21 | 25  | Killed Gorbag, the Orc Captain
|   754980|    21 | 25  | Quest: Failed to clear out a creeping coin nest.
|   803004|    16 | 25  | Killed Orfax, Son of Boldor
|   833321|    16 | 25  | Killed Ufthak of Cirith Ungol
|   838515|    16 | 25  | Killed Grishnakh, the Hill Orc
|   984579|    18 | 26  | Killed Boldor, King of the Yeeks
|   987654|    18 | 26  | Found The Cloak 'Colluin'
|  1014267|    23 | 27  | Quest: Killed 13 Bats of Gorgoroth
|  1144983|    25 | 28  | Killed Lugdush, the Uruk
|  1145678|    25 | 28  | Killed Golfimbul, the Hill Orc Chief
|  1178052|    25 | 28  | Found The Flail 'Totila'
|  1182627|    23 | 28  | Killed Bolg, Son of Azog
|  1229607|    20 | 29  | Found The Phial of Galadriel
|  1291975|    25 | 29  | Killed Khim, Son of Mim
|  1301755|    25 | 29  | Killed Angamaite of Umbar
|  1364626|    25 | 30  | Reached level 30
|  1399497|    27 | 31  | Killed Sangahyando of Umbar
|  1406454|    27 | 31  | Quest: Killed 10 Fire giants
============================================================


  [Options]

GAME PLAY OPTIONS:

Auto-haggle in stores                        : yes (auto_haggle)
Auto-scum for good levels                    : yes (auto_scum)
Allow the generation of themed levels        : yes (allow_themed_levels)
Expand the power of the look command         : yes (expand_look)
Expand the power of the list commands        : yes (expand_list)
Map remembers all perma-lit grids            : yes (view_perma_grids)
Map remembers all torch-lit grids            : no  (view_torch_grids)
Generate dungeons with aligned rooms         : yes (dungeon_align)
Generate dungeons with connected stairs      : yes (dungeon_stair)
Monsters exploit players weaknesses          : no  (smart_cheat)

BIRTH OPTIONS:

Adult: Allow purchase of stats using points  : yes (adult_point_based)
Adult: Allow specification of minimal stats  : no  (adult_auto_roller)
Adult: Maximize effect of race/class bonuses : yes (adult_maximize)
Adult: Preserve artifacts when leaving level : yes (adult_preserve)
Adult: Restrict the use of stairs/recall     : no  (adult_ironman)
Adult: Restrict the use of stores/home       : no  (adult_no_stores)
Adult: Restrict creation of artifacts        : no  (adult_no_artifacts)
Adult: Randomize some of the artifacts       : no  (adult_rand_artifacts)
Adult: Never stack objects on the floor      : no  (adult_no_stacking)
Adult: Have notes to written to a file       : yes (adult_take_notes)
Adult: All levels generated small            : yes (adult_force_small_lev)
Adult: Retain squelch settings               : no  (adult_retain_squelch)
Adult: Disable quests                        : no  (adult_no_quests)
Adult: Disable player ghosts                 : no  (adult_no_player ghosts)
Adult: Disable store services                : no  (adult_no_store_services)
Adult: Disable extra artifacts               : no  (adult_no_xtra_artifacts)

CHEAT OPTIONS:

Score: Peek into object creation             : no  (score_peek)
Score: Peek into monster creation            : no  (score_hear)
Score: Peek into dungeon creation            : no  (score_room)
Score: Peek into something else              : no  (score_xtra)
Score: Know complete monster info            : no  (score_know)
Score: Allow player to avoid death           : no  (score_live)

[Pete Mack]

Re quests:
No. You get status from winning quests and killing uniques.
However, quests get insanely dangerous after dl 45 or so, unless you are endgame strong. (Speed +20 (hasted), lots of damage, lots of HP, all the important resists.)
I'd worry more about your stats. Certainly, you want to be at stat gain depth (dl 30+)

Two things that you won't see much of until deeper:
gravity traps can kill you. Nexus distance traps are bad too. Beware of killing clouds (smoke, poison, etc) After a few breaths, they can start to add up to very significant (>100HP) damage.

[Nemesis]

Re quests:
No. You get status from winning quests and killing uniques.
However, quests get insanely dangerous after dl 45 or so, unless you are endgame strong. (Speed +20 (hasted), lots of damage, lots of HP, all the important resists.)
I'd worry more about your stats. Certainly, you want to be at stat gain depth (dl 30+)

Two things that you won't see much of until deeper:
gravity traps can kill you. Nexus distance traps are bad too. Beware of killing clouds (smoke, poison, etc) After a few breaths, they can start to add up to very significant (>100HP) damage.

What I meant by "permanently ruined my questing career" was that there's only a finite number before you get to dl 45, or 99, or 127 for that matter. And there aren't an infinite number of uniques either so that they also raise your status won't help if you well and truly waste your chances.

The reason why I stay in zyphyr country instead of going to stat gain is that I don't want to raise my "max dungeon depth" so I can do as many quests as I can before they get to risky. One of the rewards is permanently raised hit points, I think, so I really don't want to waste any more quests.

What can I expect to meet in a cave dweller stronghold? The worst giants and trolls are dlvl 40 but what if I encounter Cyclops and Titans?

When it comes to resisting nexus I'm kind of prepared. At least I've got an Amulet of Trickery (sadly only +1) but if I use it I'd have to take off my Amulet of the Magi and thus lose both resistance to confusion and Free Action. However, I'm working on maxing my stats so that I don't have to worry about them getting swapped.

What do gravity traps and killing clouds work like, by the way? As you can't resist gravity, are they "set your foot in the wrong spot and die" traps or are they "get slowed down or knocked out and killed by someone else" traps? And those killing clouds, are they terrain features of NPP that some monsters can alter the dungeon with (like light and darkness can affect the place with their breaths?) or are they like stinking cloud spells, only that they're actully clouds?

[Pete Mack]

Gravity trap (grey shimmering rune) can zap you with heavy gravity attack (200HP?), transport you 10 squares, and slow you. Just like any other gravity attack, except they are very common in vaults.
Clouds are leftover from breaths. Some of them are invisible (light or dark), some are
'--smoke, most are '*' (clouds of poison, elec, disen, etc)
They do diminishing damage every turn, and eventually dissipate.

And you won't see titans. I believe the limit is 10 level OOD. It's certainly less than 20.

[Nemesis]

Gravity trap (grey shimmering rune) can zap you with heavy gravity attack (200HP?), transport you 10 squares, and slow you. Just like any other gravity attack, except they are very common in vaults.

Sounds painful, I don't like these long range traps at all...

Clouds are leftover from breaths. Some of them are invisible (light or dark), some are
'--smoke, most are '*' (clouds of poison, elec, disen, etc)
They do diminishing damage every turn, and eventually dissipate.

Nice, but I presume I'm not going to get to leave a Cloud of Confusion behind me for the monsters, if I happen to find a Bronze Dragon armour or shield...

And you won't see titans. I believe the limit is 10 level OOD. It's certainly less than 20.

If the limit is 10 levels OOD, Storm Giants and Troll Chieftains are the worst guys I'll run into (yes, I have monsters.txt open, if I knew the game that good I wouldn't have to ask questions! )... I remember that Storm Giants are rather nasty as they can "command you to return" and hurt you with their lightning storms but I if I gain a level or two, find a better body armour and make sure to haste and double resist electricity, I should be able to take them on, right? As it's so out of depth I guess that I won't have to face many at once?

Trolls I remember being pushovers, but of course one shouldn't be too cocky when taking on OOD monsters. However, I guess they won't be impossible if I can rest often. Maybe digging some kind of labyrinth would be a good idea if I get the chance to do it before the trouble starts? If I do that and later attract too many trolls I could just quaff a potion of speed, run away into my maze and seal it off with my earthquake spell if they still follow me. I just hope I won't have to face a bunch of tough monsters already when I enter the level. Anyway, as I don't depend on my weapon for any resistance I'll look for a good swap that slays trolls and giants while I prepare for the quest.

[Pete Mack]

I don't think weapon slays will help, compared with 6 blows--you would need a big dice weapon, and then you would get less than 4 blows.

Usual solution: buy a whole lot (200) arrows, and brand as many as you can afford. (With 54K gold, that's around 40 or 50.)

The rods of Acid Balls are nice, but it's a shame you don't have a big stack of Rods of Light to soften up trolls and illuminate the starting hallway. Without ESP, you will need it. You'll have to use call light, which is likely to wake up more monsters early.

Also, you will need a whole lot more !CCW.

[Zikke]

I was SO confused by all the responses to this post, and then I realized he's talking about NPP and not Vanilla.

[Magnate]

I was SO confused by all the responses to this post, and then I realized he's talking about NPP and not Vanilla.

Me too. Pav - could you move this to the Variants forum?

[Nemesis]

Me too. Pav - could you move this to the Variants forum?

At first I put it in the Vanilla forum as so few people seem to play NPP (compared to say, ToME) and since NPP and Vanilla are similar in most aspects... Either way, I don't care for this character much anymore as I'm so tired of those shooting traps we were talking about earlier. To make matters even worse, I've twice had my game crashing as I got hit by Nexus traps (which are the only occasions I've suffered nexus attacks). Getting hit by unresisted nexus is bad enough, but having the game crashing as it happens also make you save scum involuntary!

However, I've put that Dunadan Paladin game on ice for now and started playing Vanilla. My first serious Vanilla Character is a High-Elf Ranger, which I have gotten to character level 19. I like this class, it's resourceful and great at going behind the lines in enemy territory and with the Ring of Delving, I'm more than able to dig my way around most troubles.

One thing's bad with my game, and that's that I just can't to get any resistances, except for a Robe of Permanence (at the black market for 10 times as much money as I had, of course!). Especially the lack of paralyzation resistance bothers me, but I suppose I should start a new thread about that one!