ToME WikiKhymChanur: I've won in ToME 2.2 and 2.3 a few times. First with a dwarven alchemist, which was way too easy, but at least I learned about the various monsters, ego types, special levels and such. Then a High Elf Sorceror, which was fun. Then a Half-Elf Lost Soul Symbiant. The Halls of Mandos part was interesting, but gaining experience by having my hordes of pets kill things sort of lacked something for me, and it seemed that killing Sauron and Morgoth was too easy.
So now, I'm doing a High Elf Lost Soul Sorceror, with the Theme module, and with Joke Monsters turned on. Theme for all the new stuff, and Joke monsters since they're supposed to be real tough.
Lost Soul sorcerors has the advantes of starting out with a Book of Beginner Cantrips, and of being able to use all of those spells equally well. Manathrust, Detect Monsters, and Detect Traps make the Halls a lot easier, and once you get Ents Potion you can chuck you stacks of food and Scrolls of Satisfy Hunger.
I used the point based system for character generation, and maxed out INT first, then CON, then STR.
I've had two attempts so far that started really good, then ended in instakills. In the first, I tried killing a Sky Drake because it was carrying an unidentified ring. Even after I whittled it's HP down to half it's starting point, and single breath still killed me.
The second, a Munchkin killed me by firing a frickin' rocket at me!! All the other munchinks I'd encountered had been easy kills, but this one, all of the sudden I'm just dead. Oh well, I wanted a challenge, right?
KhymChanur: My current one looking OK. Got to level two by killing a swamp lizard (level 5), maxed out since I didn't want my spells to become more costly yet, and I might get lucky and find a high-level mold that I could repeatedly snipe at from a distance. Then killed an acid vortex to get to level 10.
KhymChanur: Woot! Got a Sorcerous Amulet of Protection From Evil, which increases my mana and HP by 60%, and probably also boosts spell power. Soon afterwards got a Tome of Meta Spells, which has Disperse Magic, so I can get rid of blindess and confusion, even when blinded or confused.
Up to clvl 21 now.
KhymChanur: Gahhhh!!! Read a pseudo-id's scroll, turned out to be a Scroll of Teleport level, sank through the floor, and due to that stupid bug went from Halls level 98 to the surface! And I didn't have nearly enough loot or exp yet. Quiting and restarting.
KhymChanur: Doing good. Got to clvl 2 by killing a black midge, then up to clvl 10 by killing a slow vortex. But the great thing is finding a Spellbook of Knolwedge just 6 squares away from the stairs, with no monsters nearby to prevent me from getting it. Woo-hoo!!
KhymChanur: Decided to go kill a Vampire Gnome for some loot, but there was a small swarm of Dark Dwarven Foos in the way. Wiped them out, and boy do I love those guys now. Tomes of Fire, Earth, Wave, and Forest, plus and artifact amulet.
KhymChanur: Soon after the above, I found a Mage Staff of Mana (100%), and then a Sourcerous Amulet of Brilliance, which increased my INT, WIS and spell power by 7, and increased my mana and HP by 140%. 140%!! With a lot more HP, and no danger of ever running out of mana, everything since has been pretty easy. I'm leaving the halls at clvl 43, since I'm pretty well decked out, and I'd prefer to scum at Angband level 127, with chances for better items, than keep scumming at level 98. Plus I'm getting tired of not having any homes to store stuff in.
KhymChanur: OK, I've given up on the joke mode. First, one of the joke uniques plants the Morgothian curse on my armor as a parting gift when I kill it. I'm not sure which of them got the curse, since the items' descriptions don't seem to say, and it replicated through my equipment (almost all of it artifacts) before I could isolate it. I delt with it well enough, when another joke unique manages to, in just one turn (due to multiple attacks per turn) knock me unconcious, and then finish me off, despite the fact that I had +63 speed.
Gahhh!!!!