So what have we learned so far? That Yeesh sucks ass at Crawl. But we knew that already.
What have we learned about naga? Well I just googled it and learned that the plural is actually nagas. Oops, sorry about that.
What else have we learned about nagaS?
1) They can't run away.
2) They suck.
3) Spit poison misses 40% of the time at least.
4) Cheibriados is a really, really good fit for them, despite the whole no-boots deal.
5) You have to play them carefully (see #2).
6) Having no one good weapon skill really makes you crappy.
7) Having your only good magic skill be Poison really isn't going to last you too far into the game.
8) The armor-not-fitting-well-but-compensate-by-natural-AC deal works out a lot better for casters than for melee types. But keep in mind they get a -2 aptitude for dodging too.
9) Will all those 0 aptitudes, they don't want to specialize. BUT THEY NEED TO ANYWAY.
Specifically to the goal of not dying a horrible, early death, I think ranged attacks go very well with a naga. Other characters have options for moving around, but a naga pretty much has to engage any threat it stumbles across unless you want to go through consumable at a vast rate. What's nice about Cheibriados is that he provides both some smashing power in the form of Slouch, and an escape hatch in the form of Step From Time. But damnit, the latter is cripplingly expensive. On the other hand, the truly life-saving abilities tend to be. On the other, other hand, it's not necessarily going to save your life; just give you some breathing room.
Also, Cheibriados's massive stat boosts really make for a fine hybrid character, and I've seen it written elsewhere that not casting with Che means you're wasting a +10 to your Int. Can't argue with that. But even as a hybrid, a naga must pick a few skills and stick to them. I think Fighting and a melee weapon skill are necessary for anyone because of Fighting's HP boost, and if you're going to raise that you might as well make it effective by getting good at a weapon. I also think that a single missile skill is a great investment because it's just one skill to raise but it really adds some capability. But magic-wise, I'm not sure what to do. Spellcasting is necessary, but what else? There are an awful lot to choose from. Translocation would be very helpful for making escapes, and could open up a whole new universe of mobility. But attack power would be nice too; an investment in Poison scares me because of its lack of utility in the end game, but it's worth noting I've never even reached that part (other than the Hall of Blades, where Poison sure won't help).
Of course, you get to start with one spell book, and the rest is the luck of the draw. I don't know if it's wise to turn away from skilling up a less optimal school if it can help you and you've got spells for it.
I don't know anything, really.
Having thought about it a bit, I'm intrigued to try these Warpers out. To start with the mobility spells and find some attack spells is much more likely than to start with some attack spells and find the mobility spells. On the other hand, there is the issue of killing things, with which the early attack spells really help. But if it takes a few senseless deaths (or a few dozen) to get things sorted out, that's fine. It's not like we're going to run out of naga. Nagas.
So let's get to the Warper sisters!
Nicole is hoping that first time's the charm. Wow! Warpers start out with a lot of goodies. I hope that's not an indication that they have trouble survivin'...
Level 2. Nicole celebrates by memorizing Blink.
A hobgoblin (the strength of whom never ceases to surprise me) smashes Nicole mostly to death, and a kobold finishes the job. I could have escaped so many ways, but I just don't burn consumables against level 1 monsters. Oh right she could have Blinked too, but my point stands. If you can't handle something the weakest monsters in the game, then go ahead and die. And so Nicole did.
Code:
103 Nicole the Grasshopper (level 2, -1/20 HPs)
Began as a Naga Warper on Mar 11, 2011.
Slain by a kobold
... wielding a +0,+0 dagger
(3 damage)
... on Level 1 of the Dungeon.
The game lasted 00:06:35 (477 turns).
Lessons learned: There's more where she came from.