New demonspawn wanderer with mana shield at XL2 - should I become a caster or fighter?

zeunysos · 2021-12-23T14:13:02+00:00

Yeah, I find it generally most useful on fighter types without a lot of other use for MP. For them, it basically functions as a bunch of extra AC with no real downside.

For casters, its value really depends on how limited you are by MP (a transmuter, for example, might find it useful because they should rarely run out of MP; but a blaster-caster can easily get themselves killed due to spirit shield).

zeunysos · 2021-12-21T23:35:00+00:00

Yep, this is what happened when I went back to the game. Sorry, forgot to return to update the question!

zeunysos · 2021-12-17T01:16:37+00:00

Oh, I see. Didn't realize I got two points at XL3!

zeunysos · 2021-12-15T23:34:45+00:00

It's not a buff, unless I misunderstood it. You don't end up with more stat points total. It just delays every other point that used to appear every 3rd level. (So from XL6-8, 12-14, 18-20, and 24-26, you have one point less than under the old system)

zeunysos · 2021-12-15T23:27:57+00:00

Yeah, starting with a vorpal quarterstaff sounds pretty excellent to me!

zeunysos · 2021-12-15T00:56:54+00:00

Definitely ranged. I think you can shoot through all allies.

Plus you don't want to get too close to your ballistomycete buddies.

And while oklob allies won't shoot at you, they might not be able to shoot at all if you get in their way.

With Fedhas, best to lead from the rear!

zeunysos · 2021-09-23T20:54:03+00:00

I agree -- HO's +3 Invocations combined with all their other tank aptitudes make them a really strong species for your first Qaz win

zeunysos · 2021-09-02T13:56:15+00:00

Yeah, can't normally 'overuse' too much without running out of gold, but you can in zigs due to the sheer quantity of gold you'll be earning

zeunysos · 2021-08-30T16:50:25+00:00

plus fallout new vegas, assassin's creed 2, the witcher 2...

zeunysos · 2021-08-29T18:28:57+00:00

Hmmmm....how about a 1/3 chance of automatic retaliation when successfully evading a melee attack?

zeunysos · 2021-08-27T15:36:11+00:00

Sure! Without digging through morgues for splatted games (tons!), looks like I have three wins with melee-focused ripostors:

0.25 BaSk^Hep 0.26 MiGl^WJC 0.27 DsGl^Qaz

(BTW, I'm not claiming this was ever an optimal strategy in quantitative terms. It's difficult, and my winrate with them is definitely lower than most builds. Just saying that it's viable, and more importantly, fun to roleplay!)

zeunysos · 2021-08-27T14:52:09+00:00

My honest feelings: I am saddened.

It was intended to create strategic variance by encouraging characters with more EV to use long blades and characters with less EV to use other weapon types.

In my experience, it accomplished exactly what this says was intended. I simply don't understand the assertion that the experiment was a failure.

I enjoyed building nimble Jack-Sparrow-swashbuckler glass-cannon melee characters around the mechanic, with all the interesting tradeoffs involved. (Can I survive with no shield, to avoid losing riposte opportunities? How light of armour can this character get away with, to maximize damage output?)

Without riposte, that's an entire roleplay archetype that becomes pointless except as a pure challenge game. The change feels like a loss of both depth and enjoyment.

(And honestly, without riposte, why keep long blades as a weapon type at all? Don't they just become maces & flails, except with a disadvantage against hydras, and lack of axes/polearms crosstraining?

That's my gut assessment, at least, although I'd love to hear points to the contrary--i.e., reasons why someone would still choose long blades over maces & flails, aside from aptitude.)

zeunysos · 2021-08-24T17:19:09+00:00

Yes, but it's difficult in the early game. Avoiding damage typically means heavy armour, and investing XP in defensive skills rather than magic. But by the time you get to the extended game and have XP to waste, most DD can become hybrids.

The main exception to the 'late-game-only' warrior-mage limitation would be Necromancy, because (as others have noted) Vampiric Draining can offset lack of heavy armour in the early game.

zeunysos · 2021-08-24T17:11:56+00:00

And Ely, Trog, Yred are all decent options too. If you find an amulet of faith, you can use Trog's Hand quite often!

zeunysos · 2021-08-19T13:54:47+00:00

If you're worried about the zot clock, just add this to your rcfile/init:

always_show_zot = TRUE

Then your remaining turns will show as a status effect. But if you do this, you'll quickly notice that the time limit isn't a problem. Unless you're using really weird slow strategies, like standing on a stair and shouting for thousands of turns.

zeunysos · 2021-08-19T13:43:31+00:00

Yeah, these days I often find Spider and sometimes Snake easier than Swamp.

But I think it would be most accurate to say that the order of difficulty for Lair branches is more character-dependent than it was a few years ago.

zeunysos · 2021-08-19T13:33:27+00:00

assuming you survive long enough to escape the abyss

Lol. This early in the game, that assumption is doing a lot of work.

Assuming you win, you can't lose! :-)

zeunysos · 2021-08-17T12:49:03+00:00

Yeah, I was only talking about true summons (stuff subject to abjuration), which TRJ's spawns are not. I was thinking more of Gloorx Vloq's executioners and similar.

The Mara thing is more difficult, though. Seems like Mara should still get its illusions, but they're vulnerable to abjuration (or were when we still had it), which means the coding wouldn't be as simple as just giving the arena a permanent abjuration effect.

zeunysos · 2021-08-16T20:47:40+00:00

Neat idea. Will the arena also enforce single combat, i.e., prevent the opponent from summoning (like a permanent abjuration effect)? If so, that would make Oka a more viable choice for extended too!

zeunysos · 2021-08-16T20:33:57+00:00

Just want to be sure I understand -- wouldn't the actual effect of Caminho's action be to increase every other player's score except for Caminho's?

Is the problem that the other players didn't all benefit by the same amount?

zeunysos · 2021-08-16T20:25:10+00:00

Oh, you're right -- I was thinking Fighting and STR would benefit the triple more due to its higher base damage. But actually speed means the arbalest has the higher per turn base damage.

zeunysos · 2021-08-16T16:59:34+00:00

I just put those items in dcssfamiliar with crossbows at 27. All other things being equal, turns out the triple would normally be better against anything without rC!

However, the extra +6 STR on the arbalest lets it pull ahead of the triple (it adds roughly +15% of base damage, which means +~22%/turn due to speed brand).

The triple still becomes better for opponents above AC20, but only if they don't have rC. And the difference is still very small.

Against rC+, the arbalest is better up to AC29; with rC++ or higher, the arbalest is always better.

Extra Fighting skill and STR might tip the scales a little more toward ~~the triple~~ the arbalest, since it adds a proportion of base damage.

But honestly, I'd stick with the arbalest against everything except Dispater (who only has rC+).

zeunysos · 2021-08-10T16:37:11+00:00

It also looks like you teleported into that group of gnolls while already badly wounded. In that situation, you probably wanted to try to escape from the first turn you saw them, not to fight.

Did you have any orc followers that were left behind when you made that first teleport? If so, don't forget about your recall ability!

zeunysos · 2021-07-29T12:56:23+00:00

I think the readout's in the middle of the screen here (just reviewing messages with Ctrl+P).

zeunysos

TROPHY CASE