Poschengband game mechanic questions

[budswell]

Thanks for the replies.

Does the level of opponent matter with upskilling? e.g. Is it possible (and worthwhile) just going to a shallower dungeon level to mow through easy opponents just after switching weapons?

Also on riding, I assume you use the capture ball to get mounts? Is there stats or skills for the capture ball. Been unsuccessful so far whenever I've come across a horse and knocked it down to one star?

Edit: Wow that's new, I just got polymorphed! I'm now a Nibelung. Don't think I've seen it other variants, I think its kind of cool. I was wondering if it was going to be permanent, but no.

[wobbly]

Thanks for the replies.
Does the level of opponent matter with upskilling? e.g. Is it possible (and worthwhile) just going to a shallower dungeon level to mow through easy opponents just after switching weapons?

Yep, they need to be a certain difficulty based on your level. Chris if you read this, it can be a nightmare for non-melee classes just trying to build basic skill in a new weapon. Eh, maybe your fine with that anyway, I found it a bit irritating.

Also on riding, I assume you use the capture ball to get mounts? Is there stats or skills for the capture ball. Been unsuccessful so far whenever I've come across a horse and knocked it down to one star?

I'm guessing chr (it's a beastmaster's prime stat) with a bonus for cavalry/beastmasters. Pets & mounts can be a pain & a lot of classes can't ride well. You'll suffer large to hit penalties with-out high skill particularly on the crossbow. I like pets so I use them a lot, just be prepared for some hassle/frustration if you do.

Edit: Wow that's new, I just got polymorphed! I'm now a Nibelung. Don't think I've seen it other variants, I think its kind of cool. I was wondering if it was going to be permanent, but no.

It can be permanent on the chaos warrior & perhaps a mutation?? Maybe some other ways, I'm fairly new to the variant myself.

[Nivim]

Yep, they need to be a certain difficulty based on your level. Chris if you read this, it can be a nightmare for non-melee classes just trying to build basic skill in a new weapon. Eh, maybe your fine with that anyway, I found it a bit irritating.

Get huge ac and detection, go where you expect to find lone melee opponents at least as high as your level, then dual wield junky versions of the weapon you want to train-- the deeper the negative acc/dam the better, although +attacks is good.
Because you see, you get weapon skill points just for making a swing at a higher-level opponent; you don't need to actually hit or do damage.

My favorite place for this around CL30 was recalling to the Graveyard and exiting it to the wilderness, where there were usually trolls of about the right level. Then around CL45-50 I used the arena. ("Downside" is even with +0 stuff I was still killing things quickly, mostly because I was too lazy to change my kit that much.)


Polymorph is temporary if a monster or trap does it to you; it's permanent if you use an item or get it as a chaos-god gift. (The split is supposed to be intentional-vs-unintentional, I think.)
Also, it's kinda dangerous, since has chances for messing with your stats, giving you horrible mutations (as well as ok ones?), and causing plain-damage shock effects (which I think chaos beastman might not have trouble with?).

[wobbly]

Because you see, you get weapon skill points just for making a swing at a higher-level opponent; you don't need to actually hit or do damage.

Just tried this & hey your right! I think I got confused because it doesn't seem to work with missile weapons. You can grab an unskilled missile weapon continuously fire & miss at a sleeping target with a large stack of ammo & as far as I can see never improve till you hit.

Edit: Though I'm not 100% certain I haven't been firing at too weak an opponent.
Edit 2: Pretty sure not though, because usually when it's happened I've grabbed bless scrolls to start hitting & my bow/sling skill has started shooting up after getting a few hits on something.

[budswell]

Thanks for the help. (Edit: Was) Playing a posessor and its going a lot better than my average (mainly due to luck).
Also had a crack at pickupref autodstroy stuff and its working well.

So more questions:

With pets do I get the XP when they kill things? (It looks like I do, but not the amount stated in the recall window)

When using the "R"est command the only button on the numeric keypad which works is 5, none of the others (I have numlock off for SHIFT+direction running). But they do work for other things like specifying an number of items in a stack

In the ~ skills display, does ![Unskilled] mean my character cannot get better than that? I am assuming it does because my posessor (RIP) had ![Skilled] in the weapons he used. So if that's the case, which classes can learn to ride? My current character is a necromancer

Is there a way to get pets to follow you down stairs/recall? Kind of like "make pet companion" in Tome. (Although as I type this I guess I could carry them through in capture balls?)

[wobbly]

With pets do I get the XP when they kill things? (It looks like I do, but not the amount stated in the recall window)

It's split not sure how exactly, on damage perhaps?

In the ~ skills display, does ![Unskilled] mean my character cannot get better than that? I am assuming it does because my posessor (RIP) had ![Skilled] in the weapons he used. So if that's the case, which classes can learn to ride? My current character is a necromancer

! is max. I know magic-eaters & ninjas can't get above unskilled, most casters are bad, cavalry & beastmasters are of course the best, Chaos-warriors & rangers are not bad, the rest you'll have to try & see.

Is there a way to get pets to follow you down stairs/recall? Kind of like "make pet companion" in Tome. (Although as I type this I guess I could carry them through in capture balls?)

Capture balls are the most convenient (especially if you want to teleport) but they lose all there xp. If they're standing next to you they will use stairs/recall but not follow you on to the world map. I corner them to stop them wandering off if I have to recall without a capture ball.

[budswell]

Capture balls are the most convenient (especially if you want to teleport) but they lose all there xp. If they're standing next to you they will use stairs/recall but not follow you on to the world map. I corner them to stop them wandering off if I have to recall without a capture ball.

Thanks, that explains why the one I'm riding always comes with. And I normally have them on "Seek and destroy" so they're never next to me, which explains why I never saw them come.

Next questions about Hex magic (currently a Sprite High Mage - I didn't realise Hex magic is kind of fighter magish).

What is with the "Patience" spell. The description isn't much help. As far as I can tell it seems to dish out damage to a monster I am in melee with after a while.

What is the point of the "Curse Weapon" spell? Why would I ever want to curse the weapon I'm wielding?

[MarvinPA]

Patience deals damage (in a ball centred on you) based on how much damage you took while it was active. In one of the later books there's a spell that makes your melee more effective based on how cursed your weapon is (and apparently another one that restores your SP by draining curses from your weapon! Hex magic is really weird).

[debo]

It's time for end of patioence!

[JohnCW9]

It's split not sure how exactly, on damage perhaps?


! is max. I know magic-eaters & ninjas can't get above unskilled, most casters are bad, cavalry & beastmasters are of course the best, Chaos-warriors & rangers are not bad, the rest you'll have to try .

That not true for mafic-eaters that can get skilled on one or more weapons

[wobbly]

The original question was about riding. Apologies if my answer was unclear.

Anyone know how the dominate living creature works on a beastmaster? At level 8, 12 chr I couldn't seem to dominate a horse. Does the 'mighty' personality make a difference? Seems to negatively effect the fail rate for "casting" the power.

[Nivim]

10-14 of a stat is the "meh ok" range; you shouldn't expect significant bonuses from it. If you want to actually get use out of one, aim for 18 effective or more.
Also, it might be easier to buy and use a capture ball instead (get a thing down to low HP, then wield and activate repeatedly), and maybe on something better than a horse (seems to even work on really big things if you can actually do the damage and survive), but I have also never tried beastmaster powers so am unsure.

[wobbly]

Yeah getting decent chr on a half troll is hard though. Might try with the barbarian & see if it works.

[budswell]

OK, current character is hobbit cavalry. So my question is:

Is there a way to speed up when riding?

Quaffing potions of speed does not seem to help. I have noticed "we" speed up when one of my potions of speed is shattered, but how do I make that happen.
I have a rod of speed (never seen one of those before), but 97% fail makes it useless and haven't had the patience to test it - maybe if/when my stats are up.

And BTW: The Stone of Lore. Wow. It might want to offer a hint at that in the *ID* description. I had got it once before, but stuck with the phial for the light activation, and there wasn't anything which implied it was better. This time I just had a lamp, so switched. Very happy I did, works great in conjunction with auto destroyer

[wobbly]

Your riding speed increases with riding skill (the mounts speed matters also I think)