![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
16. 2077 Matthew the High-Elf Mage, Level 11
Killed by nobody (yet!) in the town (Max 7)
(User 1024, Date TODAY, Gold 5014, Turn 250050).This is after 2 trips into the dungeon; I've had quite a few characters get to around this level and then die recently, due to rather over-aggresive diving (typically level 9ish characters on level 11 encounter a dragon or a unique).
[Angband 3.0.5 Character Dump]
Name Matthew Self RB CB EB Best
Sex Male Age 103 STR: 17 +1 -5 +0 13
Race High-Elf Height 90 INT: 17 +3 +3 +0 18/50
Class Mage Weight 159 WIS: 10 -1 +0 +0 9
Title Trickster Status 44 DEX: 15 +3 +1 +0 18/10
HP 66/66 Maximize Y CON: 9 +1 -2 +0 8
SP 23/23 Preserve Y CHR: 9 +5 +1 +0 15
Level 11 Armor [11,+6] Saving Throw Superb
Cur Exp 1377 Fight (+3,+0) Stealth Very Good
Max Exp 1377 Melee (+4,+5) Fighting Very Good
Adv Exp 1495 Shoot (+3,+0) Shooting Good
MaxDepth Lev 7 Blows 1/turn Disarming Very Good
Gold 5014 Shots 1/turn Magic Device Superb
Perception Good
Burden 51.4 lbs Infra 40 ft Searching Fair
You are one of several children of a Vanyarin Ranger. You have light
grey eyes, straight black hair, and a fair complexion.
abcdefghijkl@ abcdefghijkl@
Acid:............. Blind:.............
Elec:............. Confu:.............
Fire:............. Sound:.............
Cold:............. Shard:.............
Pois:............. Nexus:.............
Fear:............. Nethr:.............
Lite:............+ Chaos:.............
Dark:............. Disen:.............
abcdefghijkl@ abcdefghijkl@
S.Dig:............. Stea.:.............
Feath:............. Sear.:.............
PLite:............. Infra:.............
Regen:....+........ Tunn.:.............
Telep:............. Speed:.............
Invis:............+ Blows:.............
FrAct:............. Shots:.............
HLife:............. Might:.............
[Character Equipment]
a) a Katana (3d4) (+1,+5)
b) a Short Bow (x2) (+0,+0)
c) (nothing)
d) (nothing)
e) a Silver Amulet of Regeneration
It speeds your regeneration.
f) a Brass Lantern (with 2550 turns of light)
It cannot be harmed by fire.
g) Soft Leather Armour [4,+0]
h) a Cloak [1,+5]
i) a Small Leather Shield [2,-1]
j) a Hard Leather Cap [2,+0]
k) (nothing)
l) a Pair of Soft Leather Boots [2,+0]
[Character Inventory]
a) a Book of Magic Spells [Magic for Beginners]
b) a Book of Magic Spells [Conjurings and Tricks]
c) a Book of Magic Spells [Incantations and Illusions]
d) 2 Flasks of oil
e) 2 Hazy Potions of Speed
f) a Crimson Potion of Resist Heat
g) a Cloudy Potion of Cure Critical Wounds
h) a Cast Iron Wand of Sleep Monster (16 charges)
[Home Inventory]
a) a Spear of Slay Evil (1d6) (+3,+4)
It slays all evil creatures.
Of course, this character may die soon too, but I thought I'd wibble a bit about how I do the first few trips here.
I try and shuffle my starting kit to get a lantern and a short bow and some arrows - the latter can really help in an otherwise marginal situation, and as a starting mage you have very limited firepower between restings. This typically doesn't leave money for a shovel, which is a bore. I'll normally aim to acquire one on my first return to the town.
The aim of early trips into the dungeon is to level up as fast as possible, as this increases your firepower, and to ID as much stuff as possible. As a mage, you have no pseudo-ID whatsoever, so you have to rely on shopkeepers (and buying scrolls of identify). On my first trip down, I keep descending almost whenever I find stairs down, and recall when my inventory is full (actually, slightly over-full - I'll have found one object I couldn't carry, eaten rations until I became full, picked that up, found another item I couldn't carry, read the recall scroll, and picked the object up before the recall kicked in). Thereafter I aim to recall and keep diving (and recall out again), unless there's a shortage of recall scrolls (which there has been this game).
Potions and scrolls I won't use unless desparate, and typically won't bother identifying before selling them (obviously, if I have more than 1, I sell the first for ID, and then flog/destroy the rest). Wands are best aimed at a weak monster (not one that breeds) - this will pick up most effects, and you can ID them for number of charges and to maximise sale price. Staffs can be tried if you're fully rested and feel lucky - you might get a summoning staff, though, so beware! missile ammo can be used unidentified (if they're cursed, you'll miss a lot, and do no damage even if you hit), but other weapons and armour should be saved up and sold and/or IDd (it's a bit of pot luck deciding which, but as a mage you almost certainly don't want to ID gloves, and probably do want to ID footwear).
After trip one, I'll want to acquire spellbook 2, and possibly 3, depending on how money/exp is going. I also think about upgrading to a longbow, and maybe acquiring a shovel (stone to mud is a lvl 9 spell, so it's sometimes not necessary). After trip two (where this character is), I'll definitely be wanting spellbook 3.
Once you learn identify (level 11), life gets easier - you can ID things as you find them, and strategy changes a bit (which will be for another post). This character got that far on the way up from the dungeon on this second trip. The amulet was a particular bonus (regeneration is really, really good). I'm going to buy a longbow and some arrows, and quite possibly a couple of cure critical wounds potions.
(no subject)
(no subject)
Back when I played Angband (RSI makes it tricky these days:), I tended to try to keep my characters to Dlev<(Clev/2) until they hit level ten or twelve, and Dlev<Clev from there to about level 15-20 (depending on class). This made for a bit of a slow start, but did counteract my previous problem of always dying at around Dlev 10 from diving too fast.