Let's Play Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup

[lightbane]

Lol, pwned... I mean Long live Grog. I would like that your next character (after you're "done" with Mr Hawking and lordpaco) is a Human Chaow Knight worshipper of Xor called Lightbane, just for the lulz.

 

[Luigi]

and I was gonna post to skip the first easy 10 levels =)

 

[Damned Registrations]

I look forward to the next 2 playthroughs. I sympathize with you on your first death here. Wasting something like a healing potion or blink scroll when you think you're safe always seems better in hindsight, but you gotta weigh that against all the times you've died because you had no such items because you used them up playing it safe earlier.

Err, why weren't you wearing the splint mail? Should have been much better than the chain AFAIK. Dwarf armor is better than normal armor for everybody, not just dwarves.

 

[golgepapaz]

Yep. One way is via a god granted ability, the other is a spell you can learn that unlearns spells. I think it's enchanting school?

I'd go ahead and fill those slots. It's a lot harder to die because your book is filled with useful spells than it is because you never learned half of what you could have. Unless you're near the level cap you're going to get more slots anyways. Low level spells are especially worth grabbing, since they use few slots.

With the 0.8 version you also get amnesia scrolls , a worthy addition , there were times I've converted to sif muna just to get it....

 

[Malakal]

Play demonspawn of Jivya for hilarious yet useful mutations or DS of Xom for just hilarious and bad ones...

 

[Haba]

Play demonspawn of Jivya for hilarious yet useful mutations or DS of Xom for just hilarious and bad ones...

Xom is a truly Codexian god. Gives artefact weapons to your enemies just for lulz. And that is when he actually likes you!

 

[oldmanpaco]

So I'm a level 9 wizard with no combat skills. Is that OK?

Also what are the best schools to focus on as wizard?

Once again I know there are forums for this but I'm here already.

 

[7hm]

So I'm a level 9 wizard with no combat skills. Is that OK?

Also what are the best schools to focus on as wizard?

Once again I know there are forums for this but I'm here already.

Make sure you get some levels in fighting. That affects your HP.

Beyond that, someone else will have to chime in. I aint gonna be explaining the schools too much - I haven't done much with non stabby based magic users.

I look forward to the next 2 playthroughs. I sympathize with you on your first death here. Wasting something like a healing potion or blink scroll when you think you're safe always seems better in hindsight, but you gotta weigh that against all the times you've died because you had no such items because you used them up playing it safe earlier.

Err, why weren't you wearing the splint mail? Should have been much better than the chain AFAIK. Dwarf armor is better than normal armor for everybody, not just dwarves.

I wasn't wearing the splint mail because I hadn't ID'd it. I only had the one remove curse scroll left and was waiting for get a couple new items before I tested stuff out.

 

[oldmanpaco]

Where are the morgue files located? Am I being a stupid?

edit: Goddamn lair. Can't believe I died.

 

[7hm]

Where are the morgue files located? Am I being a stupid?

edit: Goddamn lair. Can't believe I died.

You on windows 7?

C:\users\yourname\appdata\roaming\crawl\morgue

edit: obviously

 

[7hm]

Mr Hawking: Part 1 - Running Away

The Amazing Adventures of Mr Hawking the Godless Spriggan Enchanter

Part One - Running Away

... in which we are introduced to our hero Mr Hawking and get to watch him run away from many an encounter.

Hello Mr. Hawking.

Mr. Hawking is a Level 1 Spriggan Enchanter.

Spriggans:

move two thirds faster than most and have seven magic resistance per level (not three), but can't wear most armour and have the lowest natural HP of any race

have bad aptitudes for melee skills (except short blades), but have enormous EV and are good at stealth, stabbing and related magics

cannot eat meat in any form (thus, no chunks), but they have a very slow metabolism. Their extreme herbivorousness helps in that it boosts the food value they get from their veggies.

would have wings if they could stop fucking badgers for like one minute

Enchanters are:

spellcasters that start with a Book of Charms, a short sword (dagger for spriggans), some darts, and some skill in Enchantments and Short Blades. They generally fight by incapacitating their enemies by casting Ensorcelled Hibernation or Confuse and then stabbing them.

Spriggan Enchanters are a fairly popular build. The engine that drives this build is the combination of confusion / sleep spells and a wonderful stabbing ability. Throughout this game Mr. Hawking will be confuddling enemies or putting them to sleep and then making sure they never wake up. When he meets enemies he can't confuse he will run. Luckily for him, Spriggans are also very fast.

The downside to Spriggans is that they are vegetarians. This of course also means they are weak, with bones like paper. Just like vegetarians in real life. To survive, Mr. Hawking will have to rely on his stealthiness, because he can't take a hit.

What a nice inventory you have there Mr. Hawking. He starts with the basics that Enchanters get (as noted above). He also starts with the potion of porridge. All Spriggans start with this odd potion, which provides a large amount of nutrition. It can be a lifesaver in the early game if you can't find food.

What nice skills you have Mr. Hawking. I leave short blades on for now to train it up a couple levels. I REALLY don't want Mr. Hawking to miss when standing beside a sleeping ogre. You only get one chance sometimes, you damn well better kill him.

I do turn off enchantments. That'll level quickly once Mr. Hawking starts spamming spells.

And he's off. This starting area is not nearly as interesting as Grog's.

Mr. Hawking encounters his first sleeping opponent, a rat. He stabs him. I love doing that.

Mr. Hawking steps onto a teleport trap. Stuff gets weird.

Teleport traps can be very dangerous for a guy like Mr. Hawking. He's still only level 1 with only 8 HP and he doesn't know what his escape routes are. The second picture is from later when he gets back to the teleport trap so that you see what it looks like.

Luckily he manages to kill some folk and find his way back to the main part of the map.

Mr. Hawking kills a goblin, levels up! A lot of his kills so far have been with darts. Mr. Hawking started with decent darts and with good throwing skill. It would be silly to waste that. The best kind of kill in this game is the one where you don't put yourself in danger.

Now that Hawking is level 2, it's time to learn a spell. Ensorcelled Hibernation puts his enemies to sleep and is a key early game spell for stabby Enchanters.

Ensorcelled Hibernation:

Can hibernate various monsters, making them very good targets for stabbing them to your hearts content. Also, it can be resisted several times. After you successfully hibernate a critter, it will resist further hibernation for a long time (might be around 20 turns). Only works on the living, and those who aren't cold-res -- try confuse instead.

This is why Ensorcelled Hibernation is a good spell. Mr. Hawking went from having a potentially dangerous enemy to having a sleeping practice dummy.

Mr. Hawking has moved into DL:2 when he levels up. He picks dexterity.

Mr. Hawking found a +2 elven buckler.

I'm not really sure what to do here. I did equip it but I'm not sure if it hurts his stabbing ability or if the survival factor makes it worth it. Until someone tells me otherwise he's going to use it.

Mr. Hawking takes a quick run down to DL:3 to scope things out. He meets the ghost of Reknor. Uh Oh. Ghosts can't be ensorcelled, and there's no telling what kind of ghost this is. Time to climb back up to DL:2.

Through a different entrance to DL:3, Mr. Hawking gets in trouble. He gets hungry. There is lot less available food for him than there was for Grog. Vegetarians can't cut up corpses and Mr. Hawking still hasn't found any vegetables. He does have the potion of porridge, but he's going to save that for an emergency. For now he'll just have to be careful with the spells and keep his eyes open for sources of nutrition.

Mr. Hawking meets Reknor again. He allows himself to escape by casting hibernation on a cockroach that blocks Reknor's path.

This was very close to a deadly situation. The snake was right on top of Mr. Hawking before he was able to Hibernate it, and because of how fast snakes move escape isn't always an option. Luckily he was able to stab it.

Beyond the immediate danger of the snake is another problem - he is now Very Hungry.

Mr. Hawking is rewarded for all this though, with the wand that is lying on the ground. It turns out to be a wand of digging, which may help with an escape down the road, and which will come in handy in the Orcish Mines if he gets that far.

Near starving... No choice... Mr. Hawking isn't willing to die from starvation in the dungeon...

He quaffs the potion of porridge and hopes that he can find food quickly.

It's Reknor again! Time to scram from this level Mr. Hawking. He dives to DL:4.

Oh shit. That wasn't a good dive.

He takes one hit from the Orc Wizard but Mr. Hawking escapes up the stairs and manages to avoid Reknor's ghost. He goes through a different staircase and continues to explore DL:4.

The very same Orc Wizard Mr. Hawking was trying to avoid ends up cornering him in the corridor. Mr. Hawking is in a very dangerous spot. He can't run because the wizard will spam spells at him, but can he kill him? If the hibernation spell doesn't work, he's in real trouble.

Phew.

DL:4 is clear so Mr. Hawking checks out DL:5. He encounters another orc wizard. Bah. At least they're not Orc Priests. Gotta look on the bright side.

Elsewhere on DL:5, a hound skeleton. You can't use hibernation on the undead but the hound isn't overly dangerous so Mr. Hawking will be ok for now. One cool thing about undead monsters in this game is that you don't get any idea of what their health is like. They're either living (kinda) or dead.

Oh no. This is a really bad spot. A Killer Bee Zombie and behind him an Orc Wizard.

The killer bee zombie can't be sleep stabbed and he's providing protection for the Wizard. It's time to get the hell out of here, but how? Mr. Hawking isn't even close to an exit.

A potion of haste and a lot of luck saved the day. (This was by far the closest Hawking got to death. If that was a priest instead of a wizard he would be dead.)

Mr. Hawking runs all the way back to DL:3 with almost no health left and rests it out.

We're going to leave him for the moment - I need to figure out where to go from here.

***

What god should I pick at the Temple? We should be there fairly soon.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Bit of advice since you seem a bit unfamiliar with the role: Spellcasting x Intelligence determines the unger reduction for casting spells. Higher level spells cost exponentially more food. For this reason, it's a good idea to learn and spam your level 1 spell (Corona) whenever you have extra xp as a spriggan enchanter, until you can cast your sleep spells at no cost.

As for the shield, it depends on the version, but elven + buckler means it's as spell caster friendly as you can possibly get, so you should be fine. Spriggans are lousy at shield skill but the high Dex helps out a lot with blocking.

Another thing you didn't mention is that unlike the living, the undead don't usually regenerate health. So if it's a ghost without a ranged attack, you can safely pelt it to death with thrown rocks over a long period of time. Ghosts are also trapped on the floor they spawn on, so you can hurt fight them in melee until you're hurt, then go up the stairs and heal it off for round 2; the ghost will still be damaged. Still, undead are a big problem for Spriggans, no doubt about it. Also, I think trollish ghosts might still be able to regenerate, I forget. However, you can 'l'ook at a ghost to see what kind of player it was and get a good idea of what it's abilities are.

As for god choices, it's pretty much a tossup imo. Any of the spellcaster gods can be useful since you get the int and mp for it (Though you can forget about ever casting the high end stuff, the food costs will ruin you), and one advantage of Okawaru for a spriggan is that he only god gifts you things you can equip, which is about 20% of what you'll find in the dungeon (Bullshit figure). Although, you can technically equip battle axes and clubs, so he can still screw you harshly. Enchanters are also prolific evokers, so the god of cards whose name escapes me can be excellent for them as well, or so I hear. Never touched him myself.

 

[oldmanpaco]

So Potions of Mutation.. Drink them or not?

 

[Haba]

So Potions of Mutation.. Drink them or not?

So far I've always gotten one positive and one negative mutation, while demonspawn mutations are always positive.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I'd lean towards no. Some of those negative mutations really suck, especially the ones that cost you equipment slots.

 

[7hm]

As for god choices, it's pretty much a tossup imo. Any of the spellcaster gods can be useful since you get the int and mp for it (Though you can forget about ever casting the high end stuff, the food costs will ruin you), and one advantage of Okawaru for a spriggan is that he only god gifts you things you can equip, which is about 20% of what you'll find in the dungeon (Bullshit figure). Although, you can technically equip battle axes and clubs, so he can still screw you harshly. Enchanters are also prolific evokers, so the god of cards whose name escapes me can be excellent for them as well, or so I hear. Never touched him myself.

Yeah I'm thinking Okawaru. I've had some good runs with SpEns worshipping him.

I'll leave it up to you guys though. Whatever.

I've also heard that about Nemelex. I've never gotten far with him. Would be interesting.

 

[good little toastboy]

Naga Transmuter of Cheibriados next please.

 

[Malakal]

So I'm a level 9 wizard with no combat skills. Is that OK?

Also what are the best schools to focus on as wizard?

Once again I know there are forums for this but I'm here already.

Spell schools ranked by me:

The most useful school award goes to ENCHANTMENT - repel missiles, haste, regeneration, berserk, weapon brands and more, all in here. Enchantment school is perfect for mage warriors and stabbers, useful when you lack luck in finding gear. Can be replaced by potions and wands though.

The best DAMAGE oriented school is EVOCATION (obviously) with FIRE subtype. Excellent spells like fireball for AOE, sticky flame for killing tough monsters and finally firestorm for killing even liches. EARTH subtype sucks donkey balls and is extremely hard to master but also has the biggest single target damage of all spells. AIR just sucks, damage is pathetic and only sometimes spells are useful. ICE is second best and nicely compliments fire spells.

For ESCAPING there is TRANSLOCATION. Very useful but very situational.

Finally there is SUMMONING. IMO the most powerful school, being able to gate in hordes of demons is unmatched by anything, other spells are also quite fine. Alas summons take half of your exp so levelling here is hard. But summoning is one school that should last a caster all game.

NECROMANCY is a mixed school. Some damaging spells, some debuffs and buffs, finally a lot of pets. I dislike it but it offers a nice mix of summoning and damaging, is also very useful late game (with lich form).

And thats it more or less. The perfect wizard is a summoner (for meatshield goodness), enchanter (for survival and haste) and evoker (for direct damaging when it is needed). Also trains fighting as to have some hp.

 

[dextermorgan]

 

[oldmanpaco]

Spell schools ranked by me:

The most useful school award goes to ENCHANTMENT - repel missiles, haste, regeneration, berserk, weapon brands and more, all in here. Enchantment school is perfect for mage warriors and stabbers, useful when you lack luck in finding gear. Can be replaced by potions and wands though.

The best DAMAGE oriented school is EVOCATION (obviously) with FIRE subtype. Excellent spells like fireball for AOE, sticky flame for killing tough monsters and finally firestorm for killing even liches. EARTH subtype sucks donkey balls and is extremely hard to master but also has the biggest single target damage of all spells. AIR just sucks, damage is pathetic and only sometimes spells are useful. ICE is second best and nicely compliments fire spells.

For ESCAPING there is TRANSLOCATION. Very useful but very situational.

Finally there is SUMMONING. IMO the most powerful school, being able to gate in hordes of demons is unmatched by anything, other spells are also quite fine. Alas summons take half of your exp so levelling here is hard. But summoning is one school that should last a caster all game.

NECROMANCY is a mixed school. Some damaging spells, some debuffs and buffs, finally a lot of pets. I dislike it but it offers a nice mix of summoning and damaging, is also very useful late game (with lich form).

And thats it more or less. The perfect wizard is a summoner (for meatshield goodness), enchanter (for survival and haste) and evoker (for direct damaging when it is needed). Also trains fighting as to have some hp.

Thanks.

 

[Yeesh]

I tried the cardy god once, but I could not get the hang of those decks with all their randomness. I'd enjoy seeing that god done right.

 

[Elwro]

Newb here. My character got to the Temple. I had to fight two named fast magical characters at the entrance, are they always there? And how do I ID items at the Temple?

 

[7hm]

Newb here. My character got to the Temple. I had to fight two named fast magical characters at the entrance, are they always there? And how do I ID items at the Temple?

You don't ID items at the temple in particular, I just find the Temple to be a good spot to do my ID'ing because it's safe. The Temple makes for a good stash location as well because monsters don't spawn there.

To ID items you need to either use a scroll of ID or learn what they are by wielding / using them. This is a huge component of the game, of all real roguelikes (imo).

As far as characters spawning outside the temple, nope, they're not always there. It's totally (mostly) random.

I find that lately I've had to dive a lot deeper to get to the Temple than I used to. Did they change that for 0.7?

...

I'm going to use Nemelex I think. I don't really know what to do with him to get it working properly, but I found some cards and it seems like it'd be a sensible choice. I get the impression that your card gifts are weighted towards what you sacrifice to him, and I'll be sacrificing a lot of monster corpses, so I'll probably end up with lots of spam summons.

...

In other news, I've now seen both the Lair and the Orc Mines but not the Temple. Bah. That's what happens when you dive to escape danger. Mr Hawking is coming along well though. I'll have a post up shortly. He still won't have seen the Temple but I'm up to about 60 raw screenshots and if I do any more it'll be too annoying to process them.

He's got as far as Grog so far and looks like if I can get him some fighting skill to increase the HP he has a decent chance to make some hay.

 

[Elwro]

Thanks for the info. I'm playing 0.7.1.1 and got the Temple entrance at level 4.

 

[7hm]

Mr Hawking: Part 2 - Searching for the Temple

The Amazing Adventures of Mr Hawking the Godless Spriggan Enchanter

Part Two - Searching for the Temple

... in which Mr. Hawking continues his search for the Temple - and for some badly needed vegetarian fare.

We rejoin our adventure in progress on DL:3, where our hero is resting and planning his next move.

With no desire to fight Reknor's ghost (see previous chapture in this illustrious adventure), he decides that the best thing now would be to dive down and see what he can find in the dungeon. Hopefully some food, hopefully the Temple.

Now on DL:5, Mr. Hawking spots a shop. Sadly it's just a general store and doesn't cater to Spriggan Enchanters. The shiny plate mail may be great for a guy like Grog but it's fairly useless for a spellcaster who couldn't even lift the stuff. Mr. Hawking didn't buy anything here.

Perfect! Food! (After this point food isn't going to be an issue for a while. Mr. Hawking actually finds quite a bit of it over the course of the next two levels.)

Mr. Hawking realizes that he can confuse the undead. Fantastic! Let the stabbing commence.

It's not the temple, but Mr. Hawking finds an altar. Between him and his destination, though, is an Ogre. This is the first Ogre Mr. Hawking has seen and a creature of this size and strength has the ability to kill Mr. Hawking in a single strike. Caution will be important in dealing with this foe.

Mr. Hawking had spent the last half hour running from monsters. This time, he says "NO MORE!". The Ogre, is no more. For his courage in battle, Mr. Hawking is granted a level up.

He goes to examine the altar more closely and finds that it's an altar to Cheibriados. Before exploring the dungeon Mr. Hawking went around to all the former dungeon crawlers he knew and asked them for information on the gods he would encounter below. This is what he was told about Chei, as this god is commonly known:

The Slow God! Gives piety for eating permafood while full, or for killing things faster than you.

Chei slightly slows digestion (-1 hunger, half of a ring of sustenance), halves effect of poison and sickness. Abilities: Make Ponderous -- making a piece of armour slow you. Time Bend -- slows down adjacent monsters. Slouch -- damage to fast stuff in LOS. Time Step -- lets monsters go away.

Gives 1, 3, 6, 10, 15 of each stat for 1-5 pondered articles, plus one dot of resistance for the first three (rN+, rC+, rF+ in order). The number of pondered items you receive benefit for is capped at your piety rank.

Why would someone choose to worship Chei?

You are a race with the full five armour slots available and would like +15 to each stat.NOPE

You want to oneshot several executioners at once.YEP

You can find most of the cool people there. With Che, you can just chill and do whatever and totally relax. "Take it easy" is the Cheibriados motto. Worship him if you want to have a good time and hang out with friends.NOPE, Mr. Hawking is a nervous loner.

You want to melee slimes and oklob plantsNOPE

Mr. Hawking is a Spriggan and that's enough reason to ignore this god. Chei goes against all that Mr. Hawking stands for; to think that being slow could be anything but evil, what heresy! He spits on the altar to Chei and continues his journey.

He takes a peek down to DL:6. There are some gnolls. They haven't noticed him, and that's a good thing. Mr. Hawking isn't ready for this, back up the stairs he goes.

Further in DL:6 Mr. Hawking finds an interesting mini-vault formation, filled with Orcs. He figures that he might be close to the Orcish Mines given his location in the dungeon and the monsters in that mini-vault.

In any case, this is a bit too hot for Mr. Hawking. He gets out of there.

Mr. Hawking dives down to DL:7, but once he reaches the bottom of the stairs he thanks his lucky stars that he was quiet. The gecko right next to him isn't so bad, but the Giant Eyeball can paralyse at a glance, and that's Menkaure in the distance. He thinks back to what he was told of Menkaure:

A unique, early mummy, also found in Ossuary. Knows pain, torment, and haste. Orc-wizard magenta! He gives the normal mummy death curses.

What are mummy death curses?

When destroyed, all mummies cast a death curse. For normal mummies (i.e. 'a mummy'), this could curse items or cause potions to decay.

Menkaure is far too dangerous for Mr. Hawking to tangle with at this stage. He kills the gecko (probably not the smartest move but it was so easy) and gets out of there.

Back on DL:6 he finds another shop.

This one actually has some great stuff, like the Book of Enchantment. It's too expensive for Mr. Hawking right now though, so for now he is content to buy a single scroll of identify and move on.

Mr. Hawking decides to use the scroll of identify right away to discover he has the ring of Many Deaths {rElec AC+4} in his possession. Not perfect for his build but you can't complain about extra protection.

These are some of the gnolls from earlier.

Mr. Hawking is more experienced now, and are fewer gnolls than before. He gets himself to a safer spot and lures the gnolls into his trap.

Back down another DL:7 staircase to check on safety levels. Safety levels: crazy unsafe. He rushes out of there before the priest can smite him.

Hmm. These monsters seem to be lined up nicely to test out a new wand that Mr. Hawking just picked up, and far enough away that if the wand is helpful he won't be putting himself in mortal danger.

The orc and ant go up in flames - looks like this wand is a keeper.

Mr. Hawking finds another one of those little mini vaults.

No running for him this time. Mr. Hawking has to use the wand of fire and a couple spells, but he makes short work of the Orc Warriors and the Warg.

Mr. Hawking was right, and just as he expected, he has discovered the Orcish Mines. It's still far too early for a SpEn to make his way through the mines, so we're going to stop the adventure here for now.

As you can see Mr. Hawking is encumbered - meaning he is carrying more weight than his strength allows. His first task in the next update will be to identify and remove some of the items in his possession. We're not going to be able to wait to find the Temple for that.

Next Post: Mr. Hawking continues his search for the Temple and ends up fighting a whole bunch of uniques.