Poschengband game mechanic questions

[chris]

As a Death Sword:

* Do you get bonuses from eating unIDed weapons?
* Do you get negative bonuses from eating weapons with such (i.e. -hit, -ac etc)?
* Do negative or dubious properties build up (quake?)?

Yes. No. No.

It's all good with the Death Sword. In fact, if you are lazy, you can just autodestroy all weapons and you still gain essences, though you don't get to know what you actually drained (You just grow stronger).

[Fnord]

As a Death Sword:

* Do you get bonuses from eating unIDed weapons?
* Do you get negative bonuses from eating weapons with such (i.e. -hit, -ac etc)?
* Do negative or dubious properties build up (quake?)?

[Derakon]

It's been ages since I played, but I'm pretty sure you get a saving throw -- that is, cursed gear is a potential side-effect of a successful curse spell.

[wobbly]

Is there a way to protect against priests cursing my gear? Or is it simply a matter of killing them quickly.

[chris]

Is Sharpness included in the Cw damage display? And what's the exact mechanics?

Yes it is. Here is a sample:

 Hand #1: The Executioner's Sword 'Crisdurian' (6d5) (+23,+ Accuracy
 Weight : 26.0 lbs                                           AC Hit
 To Hit : 23 + 107 = 130                                     25 92%
 To Dam : 24 + 66 = 90                                       50 89%
 Blows  : 5.00                                               75 86%
 Damage                                                     100 83%
 Crits  : 1.39x                                             125 80%
 Normal : 600 (500-700) [1.69x]                             150 77%
 Evil   : 752 (550-955) [3.38x]                             175 73%
 Human  : 827 (575-1080) [4.22x]                            200 70%
 Undead : 905 (600-1210) [5.07x]
 Orcs   : 905 (600-1210) [5.07x]
 Trolls : 905 (600-1210) [5.07x]
 Giants : 905 (600-1210) [5.07x]
 Dragons: 905 (600-1210) [5.07x]
 Poison : 827 (575-1080) [4.22x]

There is no explicit line for sharpness, but it is reflected in the damage totals and effective damage multipliers. Normal sharpness gives an effective multiplier of 11/9 (1.22x) while super vorpals give 5/3 (1.66x). These vorpal effective multipliers stack with slay and critical effective multipliers. For example, Slay Evil is a 2x multiplier. But Crisdurian is sharp, so there is another 1.22x. And it is a heavy weapon being wielded with two hands, so critical hits give an effective multiplier of 1.39x. So the overall effective multiplier for the Slay Evil line is 2 * 1.22 * 1.39 = 3.39x (Displayed as 3.38x due to round off errors I guess).

But sharpness does not simply multiply damage by 1.22. Rather, every hit for a normal sharp weapon like Crisdurian has a chance of cutting deep (1 in 6) and the multiplier can get arbitrarily high (It supercharges the multiplier 1 in 4). So the reality of sharpness is that most hits do 1x damage, but occasionally, you get a 2x "gouge" or, if lucky a 3x "maim", a 4x "carve", a 5x "cleave", a 6x "smite", a 7x "eviscerate", an 8x "shred", etc. If you work the odds and remember the formula for geometric series than you can work out the effective multiplier of 11/9: 1 + 1/6 * (1 + 1/4 + 1/16 + 1/64 + ...) = 1 + 1/6 * 1/(1-1/4) = 1 + 1/6 * 4/3 = 1 + 2/9 = 11/9. For reference, super vorpals like Vorpal Blade score crits 1 in 3 and super charge 1 in 2: 1 + 1/3 * (1 + 1/2 + 1/4 + ...) = 1 + 1/3 * 1/(1 - 1/2) = 1 + 1/3 * 2 = 5/3.

Critical hits are similarly discrete in their effects. Here, the game uses sampling to compute an effective damage multiplier since the code is rather non-straightforward and I don't have a closed form for the probabilities.

[Fnord]

Is Sharpness included in the Cw damage display? And what's the exact mechanics?

[Fnord]

At first I thought Chris' comment on inventory damage was still incorrect, but when I looked it up, I saw that water bolts use sound resistance for their inventory damage check - figured I'd post that so others don't have to dig!

[wobbly]

The helpfiles are still woefully out of date. I apologize for this, but they largely need to be rewritten and this is a project that is likely to take a month or more of full time boring effort. At some point, I will do it, but every time I start I get depressed

That's understandable, especially at the rate your adding new features. I only pointed it out because it was a direct contradiction.

Thanks for taking the time to answer questions & of course for making a great variant. I appreciate it.

[chris]

The helpfiles are still woefully out of date. I apologize for this, but they largely need to be rewritten and this is a project that is likely to take a month or more of full time boring effort. At some point, I will do it, but every time I start I get depressed

I have a question about rogues & slings. The help file states they get a bonus to using slings. Is it a large bonus? I don't care much about the specific no., more a question of whether it's worth favouring the sling, or whether I'm still better off with a bow.

Yes, the bonus is large and you should definitely use slings as much as possible. You will be far better off with a good sling unless you find a truly wonderful bow.

[wobbly]

I have a question about rogues & slings. The help file states they get a bonus to using slings. Is it a large bonus? I don't care much about the specific no., more a question of whether it's worth favouring the sling, or whether I'm still better off with a bow.

[wobbly]

All of the regular attack forms support stacking resistance: Fire, Elec, Chaos, etc. Basically, everything that lists a percentage in your character dump.

The help file is out of date on this one (see ?ic):

A common misconception amongst new players is that having multiple
sources of a particular resistance will increase your character's
resistance to attacks of that form. This is not true. You will get the
same benefit from wielding a single Amulet of Resist Acid as wielding a
Shield of Resist Acid, an {Armor-type} of Resist Acid and an artifact
weapon which grants acid resistance all at the same time.

As stated above, however, it is possible to get double resistance for
the low resists (and also poison). This is because these resistances
are also available on a temporary basis by casting certain spells or by
quaffing a Potion of Resistance. Some items may also activate for
temporary resistance and it may also be gained from one of the many
possible mutations. This temporary effect is cumulative with the
permanent effect and will increase your protection against these kinds
of attacks.

[chris]

I also just verified that I occasionally lose scrolls to fire despite double resist, so I still think that either Chris' description is incomplete or there's some sort of bug at works.

You need triple resist for inventory protection: 1d66 <= P for inventory and 1d55 <= P for most other effects like confusion where P is your listed resistance percentage.

Derakon is correct regarding acid. One way to think about it is that your equipment protects you and your pack, but not your other equipment. I'm pretty sure acid immunity does protect your gear, however.

[Fnord]

Unless PosChengband has changed this, acid attacks will always try to damage equipped armor. Literally the only defenses against this are a) to get gear that gives immunity to acid, or b) to equip rustproof armor in every armor slot (e.g. artifacts or armor of Resist Acid, etc.). This is distinct from destruction of inventory items.

I also just verified that I occasionally lose scrolls to fire despite double resist, so I still think that either Chris' description is incomplete or there's some sort of bug at works.

[chris]

Does anything prevent charge draining?

Not much. Devicemasters protect their speciality (wands or staves). Balrogs (The monster version) are immune to charge draining, as are Demon Pact Warlocks and any demigod who chooses the Demonic Grasp power.

I've seen people mention that they prefer this or that dungeon for doing stat gain. Other than a slight bias in monster creation (and obviously layout), are there fundamental differences? Specifically regarding drops? Are some uniques prevented from spawning?

It's all about the monsters IMO. I like the Lonely Mountain for mature/ancient dragons which sleep deeply and drop much. Spell caster classes might prefer the Anti-melee caves since monsters can't attack you there.

What's the point of "teleport to dungeon level" in that shop at that price point?

Laziness. If you want to end the game quickly and don't feel like diving you can Trump Tower down to DL98 of Angband and then rush the final two quest monsters. Perhaps you spent the entire game in other dungeons and now have 70+ levels of Angband to descend? Perhaps it might be useful for taking out specific dungeon masters near the end of the game so they don't get summoned?

Also, as already mentioned, berserkers will want to use this once they are powerful enough for the win.

Similarly, what's the point of the 15M random artifact gamble option?

Gold sink? Insanity?

[Derakon]

This doesn't appear to work as intended then. I can't count the number of times my (equipped) boots got damaged by acid despite double and even triple resist. I just verified this by looking at my current log - just happened. And it was exploding ants, so not exactly a powerful enemy.

Unless PosChengband has changed this, acid attacks will always try to damage equipped armor. Literally the only defenses against this are a) to get gear that gives immunity to acid, or b) to equip rustproof armor in every armor slot (e.g. artifacts or armor of Resist Acid, etc.). This is distinct from destruction of inventory items.

On the other hand (and again, unless PosChengband has changed this), you take half damage from acid attacks as long as they hit an armor slot that has armor giving at least +1 AC, whether or not that armor is damaged.