Pet and poly. *possible spoilers*

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

Possibly spoilery to anyone who has yet to be in this situation...

Lawful human valk.

I found a wand of polymorph, engrave-IDed, after falling through a hole
while on the run from a demon who kept calling in help. I got back up to
my pet after dipping for Excalibur on the oracle level so I could deal
with the demons and get my dog back (I hate being without a pet).

Feeling lucky after killing the demons, I lined up my pet and a shopkeep
and zapped them both with the wand. The shopkeep got angry and was now a
former shopkeep purple worm. The dog, however, became an arch-lich.
Between the two of us, the worm didn't last. So I wonder...

What cool things can an arch-lich do as a pet? I've had with polymorph
traps and luck a lurker-above, a minotaur, and a lot of useless weak pets.
I've never had a lich before, much less an arch-lich.

 

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Adam Lawson wrote:
<snip>
> What cool things can an arch-lich do as a pet? I've had with polymorph
> traps and luck a lurker-above, a minotaur, and a lot of useless weak pets.
> I've never had a lich before, much less an arch-lich.

Arch-lich will be very self-sufficient. They don't eat. They can heal
themselves. They can teleport to you. They can use unihorn to fix
themselves.

However, if you don't have a MR, they could become confused or
something (Say,unfortunate run-in with an Umber Hulk), and use the
touch of death on you and insta-kill you.

-K

 

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

On 29 Jun 2005 13:56:07 -0700
"Kremti" <kremti@gmail.com> wrote:

| However, if you don't have a MR, they could become confused or
| something (Say,unfortunate run-in with an Umber Hulk), and use the
| touch of death on you and insta-kill you.
<minor>
they would do up to the last part anyways, but it would not kill you with MR.
</minor>

 

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

Adam Lawson wrote:
> What cool things can an arch-lich do as a pet? I've had with polymorph
> traps and luck a lurker-above, a minotaur, and a lot of useless weak
> pets. I've never had a lich before, much less an arch-lich.

Lich make risky pets in general. They don't eat, which means you get all
of the corpses, but they also won't gain tameness (without you casting
"charm" on it) so if you do anything that lowers tameness (like hit a
levelport trap), eventually it'll go feral and you'll have to deal with it.

Most of what makes lichs powerful foes is their offensive spells, and
pets won't use them unless confused/conflicted. So it sort of comes down
to a semi-good pet that can go feral to produce a very dangerous enemy.

 

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

Well as an update to my pet arch-lich. He was awesome while I had him. Got
separated for a while in Soko, and he went peaceful (!? I thought pets
went wild?). Anyway, the Valk royally irked Tyr (something about killing
peacefuls in the mines -- not something I normally do but I wanted an iron
helm and figured I could make up for it), then starved in mine's end to
the point of fainting because a newly trained cat ate everything and I
hadn't picked anything up.

Screw the cat, I'll leave the level and kill the first thing I see! I
ended up in a pit, fainting, and a troll walked up. I couldn't pray (had
tried on fainting. Tyr is displeased)

The troll hits! The troll hits! The troll hits! (and so on)

You die...

Maybe the helmet wasn't worth it. Level 11, around 100HP, a cloak of
displacement (cursed, -2, teach me to excitedly put it on), and AC of -5.
Killed by a troll, while helpess (and stupid.)

 

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

Adam Lawson wrote:
> Well as an update to my pet arch-lich. He was awesome while I had him. Got
> separated for a while in Soko, and he went peaceful (!? I thought pets
> went wild?). Anyway, the Valk royally irked Tyr (something about killing
> peacefuls in the mines -- not something I normally do but I wanted an iron
> helm and figured I could make up for it), then starved in mine's end to
> the point of fainting because a newly trained cat ate everything and I
> hadn't picked anything up.
>
> Screw the cat, I'll leave the level and kill the first thing I see! I
> ended up in a pit, fainting, and a troll walked up. I couldn't pray (had
> tried on fainting. Tyr is displeased)
<snip>

Next time, you might wanna have the cat take care of the peaceful
monsters...Tyr won't care of your pet 'accidentally' off a few
peacefuls *g*

-K

 

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

Adam Lawson wrote:

> What cool things can an arch-lich do as a pet? I've had with polymorph
> traps and luck a lurker-above, a minotaur, and a lot of useless weak
> pets. I've never had a lich before, much less an arch-lich.

Not many.

They are formidable opponents, but as a pet, they're not as useful as
many other pets.

Main reason being that they cannot use their spellcasting attacks when
they're your pet.

Good things about them are that they can wield weapons, and teleport to
you, reducing the need for a magic whistle.

A disadvantage is that they will often impede your movement, suddenly
appearing in front of you every once in a while.

And they will kill themselves, quite often, if confronted with a blue
jelly...

--
Boudewijn.

"Would those who believe in telekinesis please raise my hand?"
- Maarten Pieters, in NRC Handelsblad.

 

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On Thu, 30 Jun 2005 09:02:34 +0200
"Boudewijn Waijers" <kroisos@REMOVETHISWORD.home.nl> wrote:

| Adam Lawson wrote:
|
| > What cool things can an arch-lich do as a pet? I've had with polymorph
| > traps and luck a lurker-above, a minotaur, and a lot of useless weak
| > pets. I've never had a lich before, much less an arch-lich.
|
| Not many.
|
| They are formidable opponents, but as a pet, they're not as useful as
| many other pets.
|
| Main reason being that they cannot use their spellcasting attacks when
| they're your pet.
|
| Good things about them are that they can wield weapons, and teleport to
| you, reducing the need for a magic whistle.
|
| A disadvantage is that they will often impede your movement, suddenly
| appearing in front of you every once in a while.
|
| And they will kill themselves, quite often, if confronted with a blue
| jelly...
|
| --
| Boudewijn.
|
| "Would those who believe in telekinesis please raise my hand?"
| - Maarten Pieters, in NRC Handelsblad.

yeah, demogorgon doesn't make a very good pet (at least not as good as I hoped)
an archon/purple worm could beat him, most likely because of him not being able
to use any of his special attacks while a pet. (still cool though)
and he always abandons you to heal up.
[and I like your sig. very funny.]

 

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Boudewijn Waijers wrote:
> Adam Lawson wrote:
>
>
>>What cool things can an arch-lich do as a pet?
> Not many.
>
[..]
> And they will kill themselves, quite often, if confronted with a blue
> jelly...

No, that are (master) mind flayers.

Lars, prefers giants and trolls as pets.