ToME Wiki
Harry Erwin
Email: <harry.erwin AT SPAMFREE sunderland DOT ac.uk>
HTTP: http://osiris.sunderland.ac.uk/~cs0her
HarryErwin: Here's the updated sheet for /MichaelTheHobbitArcher. My magic device is sufficiently high that I have been using wands instead of the spell. I'm currently in Lothlorien restocking. The weapons merchants in Bree, LL, and MA are all low-ballers, so I'm accumulating artifact weapons to sell later.
What I especially resent about this run is the time my broken sword (Defender) got switched back into the inventory by a trap, and the automizer destroyed it!
He's dead now, having been mobbed in Moria.
Here's /JosephTheEruPriest, after having encountered a monastic lich...
I'm currently playing /JeremyTheElvenWarper.
Here's /JeffreyThePaladin, based on a poet I know.
Here's /JohnTheDwarfEruPriest, RIP.
Chatter
NeilStevens: Hello. Nice page. Generalist doesn't even seem to begin to describe the range of stuff on there!
HarryErwin: Possibly, but if you're a generalist for long enough, you're a specialist in a lot of things. On the other hand, most of those things involve interactions of things most people specialize in. What I was suggesting is make effectiveness a second order function of skill level. For an alchemist, it might be the square of the alchemy skill level, while for some task or ability that involves multiple skills, it might be the product of the individual skill levels and or characteristic levels. That way you can do the task by being a specialist in one skill and knowledgeable in the other, or vice versa, or by being a journeyman in both. Not sum--product--so that you see non-linear development of the character.
NeilStevens: Perhaps getting a certain level in a certain number of skills could give the player some bonus multiplier points go give out, simulating experience in adapting to multiple fields, and leveraging those otherwise-intangible advantages.
GreyCat: A hobbit archer using a crossbow?? Heresy!
HarryErwin: Well, Bert didn't need it any more...8)
ScrawnyCat: I don't know where and how you usually die, but here are some (hopefully mostly non-spoily) thoughts:
You have a high intelligence score. This won't really help you much right now, and is probably not worth devoting equipment slots to. Other stats are more important, especially CON (which gives you more HP). Look out for things that raise your speed or give you resistances, obviously you lost a bunch of those when your defender got squelched. A ring of constitution (or speed) instead your ring of int would be nice, but those are usually found deeper. Rings of fire resistance are cheap and easy to get, however.
Also, one of the items you donated to the mathom house could actually become quite useful, especially early in the game.
Your piety is kind of low. Remember praying to Manwë when (and only when) killing evil stuff, if you have the time. That's pretty much the only way of raising it. I find praying while going through the orc caves is often enough to regain the piety you usually lose in the very early game. As soon as you kill baddies frequently enough to please him you'll probably want to be praying all the time, both for convenience and because Manwë offers nice bonuses with high piety, some of them only while praying. Levitation is the first of the bonuses, incidentally.
God quests can be a pain, and Manwë's more so than most. It will be quite a bit harder than usual dungeon levels, for several reasons. You didn't say when you got the quest, it'll be easier if you gain a few levels before taking it on, instead of rushing off immediately. Gods can be surprisingly patient sometimes. There are reasons for wanting to finish them quickly though.
Overall you seem to be doing fine. You should have few problems taking on the next batch of random quests, if you know where to find them. There is also another suitable side dungeon not far from Bree, if you can stand getting sand in your boots. Good hunting!
HarryErwin:
Which of the mathom house items?
The intelligence score is high because I default to a characteristic score increase if I don't have anything better to do with a slot. The piety is low because I ran into a trap in the Orc Caves that cost me 20000 piety. 8(
Manwe's god quests have not really been such a pain (I've finished two now).
Much thanks.
GreyCat: Int is useful for a Manwe worshipper because it means more Noxious Clouds. The amulet of Doom wasn't really "good" enough to be useful when reversed, and in any case, his chance of successfully reversing it is quite low unless he's very high level. (At level 28, I think he's got a 1 in 27 chance each time.)
Your best place to get more piety will probably be Moria -- kill the orcs and trolls there (while praying). For Manwe worshippers, I usually pray continuously the whole game. Be sure to use the rod of trap location every time you're about to step out of the detected area.
GreyCat: looking at the inventory again... Where is your spellbook of Noxious Cloud?? Don't tell me you're not using that spell!
ScrawnyCat: Yes, negative pvals and tohit/dam/ac on non-artifacts can be flipped with Remove Curse (if they are cursed to begin with). You'll find an Amulet of Doom (-9) sooner or later, so knowing the technique can be useful. The chance of success is only 1 in (55-CL), but as it auto-recurses you won't even have to find a monster to help you. Also good for cloaks of the bat, vampiric swords, etc.. And I hear you about the piety traps, those can be really annoying.
HarryErwin: Eru Priests turn out to be a bit passive. My level 22 priest hasn't gone very deep into the dungeons yet. I suspect he'll get to character level 50 about the time he reaches dungeon level 30 or so. He's simply not a very powerful character and has to be really careful.
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NeilStevens: When creating character sheet pages, please prefix the links on your homepage with a slash / so that the pages will be sub-pages of your page. Please move the two you already created over, and drop me a message at Deletion Requests when you're ready so I can delete the old ones. Thank you.
NeilStevens: Thanks again!
PeterWiersig: If you wish to keep an item the automatizer would otherwise destroy, simply inscribe it with an random text. I have to do that to my mundane diggers I buy from shops.
FeathinSilyar: When you buy a bunch of Magic Device with a character you can ignore Disarming. Once traps start getting dangerous and unavoidable you should be able to find a rod tip of Disarming and just use that for getting through traps. It saves a lot of skillpoints.
HarryErwin: Thanks for the ideas! I'm currently playing a Dwarven Mindcrafter, and concentrating on skills I absolutely need. He just found a randart of acquirement. What should he do with it? 8)