YAAP: I think I'm actually getting this game down

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.nethack (More info?)

I just ascended the fourth Wizard I ever played, a week after ascending
a Priestess. Overall this is my 8th ascension after playing the game 10
months.

Highlights and observations:

* The female elven wizard's name was Dies Irae.

* She used a magic lamp early on to get a magic marker rather than the
more canonical dragon armor. Instead of using the wish on one armor
piece -- she already had a +3 studded leather armor -- she ended up
generating ca. 12 scrolls of various flavors to identify heaps of wands
and scrolls, better her AC to -10 by Sokoban, hold a "genocide" in
reserve, and write an unknown spellbook (I don't recall which). This
was my first game ever in which a character wrote an unknown scroll or
spell. It's a stunningly handy ability.

* She killed a silver dragon later, enchanted the scales (marker
again), and got what she would have wished for anyway.

* She spent about half the game in elven boots. Even after finding
speed boots later, she often used the elven boots in areas where
stealth equaled health. (Or to reinforce a post I made on another
thread: to avoid being ambushed in melee.)

* The quest nemesis was a wimp -- all Dark, no bite. One sleep zap,
followed by two magic-missile zaps, and he was demolecularized. Also,
the quest wasn't packed with intervening enemies, and what few enemeies
there were proved lightweight. I contrast this to the Priestess quest,
which on level 3 is neutron-star dense with enemies, including a nasty
quasi-nemesis priest.

* Dies Irae never sacrificed, not once. She never discovered an
artifact weapon either. In the early game, her principle weapon was her
starting quarterstaff. (In "real life" at this point I learned that a
character can't uncurse a two-handed weapon via spell.) In the middle
and late game, she wielded a +7 crysknife.

* She found no bones.

* She had thrice-over teleport control -- Master Key of Thievery, eaten
tengu, experience level 17 -- but never got teleportitis in spite of
feasting on jumpy creatures.

* On the Mac Qt version I play, the "fireball" spell shows this
wonderful animated incineration -- fun to watch, and quite evocative.

* I now understand the lust for "finger of death." That spell rocks at
0% failure.

* Dies Irae's final AC was -42, HP around 250, magic power around 350,
experience level 23. She regenerated so quickly that she didn't have to
drop The Amulet to shoot the death spell. I am now a bonafide convert
to high-level characters.

All but one of my ascended characters have point scores between 3 and
just over 4 million, and creature kills around 2500. My one attempt to
gratuitously kill and sacrifice -- with a priestess named
Gotterdammerung -- gave a score 5.4 million. That's still way below
what seasoned sacrificers reach. I just don't have the patience.

My time playing Priestesses helped prep me for this Wizard. The Wizard
struck me as (essentially) a Priestess who can't tell an object's holy
state, but who can attack more proficiently with spells and can write
unknown spells. But the overall nature of the Wizard felt familiar.

However... After ascending back-to-back thinking characters, I'm going
to play a simple Barbarian next.

Thanks for reading.

--
Bobby Schmidt

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.nethack (More info?)

After going to <http://tinyurl.com/2tnqw>
Rast <rast2@hotmail.com> wrote

>Bobby Schmidt wrote on Sat, 21 May 2005 08:27:11 GMT:
>> * Dies Irae's final AC was -42, HP around 250, magic power around 350,
>> experience level 23. She regenerated so quickly that she didn't have to
>> drop The Amulet to shoot the death spell. I am now a bonafide convert
>> to high-level characters.
>
>If you don't have the Eye, you regenerate mana "every (38 - XL) * 2/3
>turns" (hppw-343).

What happens if you're level 38 or higher?
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Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.nethack (More info?)

> What happens if you're level 38 or higher?

I'd expect at level 38, with no alternatives, the dungeon would
collapse. (Ooh!)

If you managed to get past that without collapsing, I suppose (again
with no alternatives) you would lose mana. (Eep!)