YAVP - Topdown ironman mage
powera
careful to avoid dangerous monsters, and have succeeded in a top-down
mage.
Notable early finds included an amulet of sustenance at 250', a
defender weapon at 850', Mordenkainen at 1250' (most useful for Stair
Creation), a rod of speed at 1600' (2 rooms before I found book 4), a
Ring of Speed (-3) at 1700', and an ESP crown of the magi (+3) from
Acquirement at 1750'. Mim dropped Himring, which was very useful
throughout the game until I finally covered nether and chaos via other
means. Weapons were the lucerne hammer defender from 850' to 1800', a
two-handed sword defender (from Mim) until 2450', Barukkheled (from
Akhorahil) until 3450', and Eonwe since then.
Spellbooks came rather late; Raal's from Castamir around 2400', and
Kelek's from a Nightcrawler around 3900'. The phial also fell late
(at 2650'), which motivated diving at a relatively quick speed for
ironman. Other gear came from a LOT of Great Wyrms and Demons around
4500-4700'; it took a while for Thorin and Narya to drop. The only
mistake at this point was accidentally hitting a trap door, and losing
Nenya (which isn't too valuable with Eonwe).
Cleared out most of the tough uniques past 4500', with the Tarrasque,
Kronos, the Emperor Q, the Mouth of Sauron (all summoned by Sauron),
and Uriel, Lungorthin, and Cantoras (LV) dying on 4950'. Neither
Sauron nor Morgoth seemed particularly deadly, and both went down to
mana storms + mass banishment for summons. Morgoth only got in 1 hit
in melee; after that I used Phase Door aggressively.
Apart from the risk of losing spellbooks entirely (I was at one copy
of Book 1 for a LONG time before finding Narya), topdown didn't seem
to be too much of a disadvantage. I would have liked to keep a few
artifacts in the home (Anarion, Arvedui, Rohirrim, Celegorm, Amras,
and Elessar were all carried for long periods of time, often not as
current swaps, but potential future swaps), but that didn't turn out
to be an issue.
Some other random thoughts:
Tenser's may only have 2 spells in it, but they're both very useful;
Greater Recharging does much better on staves of healing/magi than the
book 3 version (which saved potions when fighting less dangerous
monsters), and Elemental Brand meant that I could save mana by using
crossbow (though Cubragol is really a poor launcher in that regard, it
still is powerful enough to justify 2 slots of ammo; I dropped Tulkas/
Necklace at 4800' and used the slots for more ammo). Mordenkainen's
was probably more of a waste of a slot; I never really used Rune of
Protection for anything, never used Door Creation at all beyond
getting EXP. Stair creation was occasionally essential with hostile
monster teleported outside a vault, but I could have lived without it.
Slow monster wands (and sleep as well) are insanely useful to allow
early mages to rest. IIRC, monsters less than level 11 cannot resist
this, regardless of your character level. Beyond the escapability,
they also let you time getting groups of monsters into corridors to
maximize efficiency with lightning bolt much better.
Having potions show up in Good drops is very nice, though it almost
makes *Healing*/Life potions too common. The drops are supposed to be
good, I guess. It would seem reasonable that other objects could be
added to Good drops as well; Staves of Healing/Holiness/Banishment/
Power/the Magi (for casters), Rods of Restoration/Speed/Healing
(perhaps Enlightenment and Drain Life as well), Scrolls of Banishment/
Mass Banishment/Rune of Protection.
On the other hand, maybe the drops of Great Wyrms just need to be
trimmed slightly, with resistance they're not very deadly (at least
the ones that can't summon).
[Angband 3.0.9b Character Dump]
Name Olfhau Self RB CB EB
Best
Sex Male Age 123 STR! 18/100 +1 -5 +16
18/220
Race High-Elf Height 80 Int! 18/100 +3 +3 +7
18/230 18/225
Class Mage Weight 190 WIS! 18/100 -1 +0 +7
18/160
Title ***WINNER*** Status 46 DEX! 18/100 +3 +1 +7
18/210
HP 898/899 Maximize Y CON! 18/100 +1 -2 +12
18/210
SP 40/375 CHR! 18/100 +5 +1 +7
18/230
Level 49 Armor [56,+135] Saving Throw
Heroic
Cur Exp 10110422 Fight (+41,+34) Stealth
Superb
Max Exp 10110422 Melee (+56,+52) Fighting
Superb
Adv Exp 10350000 Shoot (+51,+14) Shooting
Superb
MaxDepth Lev 100 Blows 4/turn Disarming
Superb
Turns 1723859 Shots 1/turn Magic Device
Legendary
Gold 615299 Infra 100 ft Perception
Superb
Burden 365.6 lbs Speed 24 Searching
Superb
You are the only child of a Vanyarin Ranger. You have light green
eyes, straight silver 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) The Great Axe of Eonwe (5d4) (+15,+18) [+8] (+2) {GV 3450'}
It increases all your stats by 2. It slays orcs, undead, and all
evil creatures, and is especially deadly against demons. It is
branded with frost. It provides immunity to cold. It provides
resistance to fear. It is blessed by the gods. It grants you
immunity to paralysis and the ability to see invisible things. It
activates for mass banishment every 1000 turns. It cannot be
harmed
by the elements.
b) The Light Crossbow 'Cubragol' (x3) (+10,+14) (+10) {Saruman 3350'}
It increases your speed by 10. It provides resistance to fire. It
activates for fire branding of bolts every 999 turns. It cannot be
harmed by the elements.
c) The Ring of Power 'Narya' (+6,+6) (+1) {GWoMC 4650'}
It increases all your stats by 1. It increases your speed by 1.
It
provides immunity to fire. It provides resistance to fear and
nether. It sustains your strength, wisdom, constitution, and
charisma. It slows your metabolism and speeds your regeneration.
It grants you immunity to paralysis and the ability to see
invisible
things. It activates for large fire ball (120) every 20+d20
turns.
It cannot be harmed by the elements.
d) a Zircon Ring of Speed (+13) {Sauron}
It increases your speed by 13.
e) a Crystal Amulet of Trickery (+4) {LV 3350'}
It increases your dexterity by 4. It increases your stealth,
searching, infravision, and speed by 4. It provides resistance to
poison and nexus. It sustains your dexterity.
f) The Palantir of Westernesse (+2)
It increases your intelligence and wisdom by 2. It increases your
searching and infravision by 2. It provides resistance to
blindness
and chaos. It usually provides light of radius 3. It grants you
the power of telepathy and the ability to see invisible things, but
it also aggravates creatures around you and drains experience. It
activates for clairvoyance every 50+d50 turns. It cannot be harmed
by the elements.
g) The Mithril Plate Mail of Celeborn (-3) [35,+25] (+4)
It increases your strength and charisma by 4. It provides
resistance to acid, lightning, fire, cold, dark, and
disenchantment.
It activates for banishment every 500 turns. It cannot be harmed
by
the elements.
h) a Shadow Cloak of Protection [6,+19]
It provides resistance to shards. It cannot be harmed by the
elements.
i) The Small Metal Shield of Thorin [3,+25] (+4)
It increases your strength and constitution by 4. It provides
immunity to acid. It provides resistance to fear, sound, and
chaos.
It grants you immunity to paralysis. It cannot be harmed by the
elements.
j) The Iron Helm 'Holhenneth' [5,+10] (+2)
It increases your intelligence and wisdom by 2. It increases your
searching by 2. It provides resistance to blindness and
confusion.
It grants you the ability to see invisible things. It activates
for
detection every 55+d55 turns. It cannot be harmed by the
elements.
k) The Set of Leather Gloves 'Cambeleg' (+8,+8) [1,+15] (+2) {Troll
Pit 3150'}
It increases your strength and constitution by 2. It grants you
immunity to paralysis. It cannot be harmed by the elements.
l) The Pair of Metal Shod Boots of Thror [6,+18] (+3) {Maralith 3300'}
It increases your strength and constitution by 3. It increases
your
speed by 3. It provides resistance to fear. It cannot be harmed
by
the elements.
[Character Inventory]
a) a Book of Magic Spells [Magic for Beginners] {@m1@b1@G1!d!k!v}
b) 3 Books of Magic Spells [Conjurings and Tricks] {@m2@b2@G2!d!k!v}
c) 5 Books of Magic Spells [Incantations and Illusions] {@m3@b3@G3!d!k!
v}
d) 3 Books of Magic Spells [Sorcery and Evocations] {@m4@b4@G4!d!k!v}
e) 3 Books of Magic Spells [Resistances of Scarabtarices] {@m5@b5@G5!d!
k!v}
It cannot be harmed by the elements.
f) 3 Books of Magic Spells [Raal's Tome of Destruction] {@m6@b6@G6!d!k!
v Casta}
It cannot be harmed by the elements.
g) a Book of Magic Spells [Mordenkainen's Escapes] {@m7@b7@G7!d!k!v
1250'}
It cannot be harmed by the elements.
h) 2 Books of Magic Spells [Tenser's Transformations] {@m8@b8@G8!d!k!v
Feagwat}
It cannot be harmed by the elements.
i) a Book of Magic Spells [Kelek's Grimoire of Power] {@m9@b9@G9 !d!k!
v Nightw}
It cannot be harmed by the elements.
j) 13 Black Potions of Healing {!*}
k) 15 Tangerine Potions of *Healing* {!*}
l) 9 Chartreuse Potions of Life {!*}
m) 11 Metallic Blue Potions of Restore Mana {!*}
n) a Rusty Rod of Restoration {!*}
It cannot be harmed by electricity.
o) an Ivory Staff of Healing (3 charges) {!*}
p) The Arkenstone of Thrain (charging) {GV Hellpit 3300'}
It provides resistance to light, dark, and life draining. It
usually provides light of radius 3. It grants you the ability to
see invisible things. It activates for detection every 30+d30
turns.
It cannot be harmed by the elements.
q) The Massive Iron Crown of Morgoth [0,+0] (+125) {cursed}
It increases all your stats by 125. It increases your infravision
by 125. It is cursed. It cannot be harmed by the elements. It
might have hidden powers.
r) The Mighty Hammer 'Grond' (9d9) (+5,+25) [+10]
It cannot be harmed by the elements. It might have hidden powers.
s) The Short Bow of Amras (x2) (+12,+15) (+1 to speed) {GV Hellpit
3300'}
It increases your intelligence, wisdom, and dexterity by 1. It
increases your speed, shooting speed, and shooting power by 1. It
provides resistance to lightning, fire, and cold. It slows your
metabolism. It cannot be harmed by the elements.
t) 28 Seeker Bolts of Slay Evil (4d5) (+14,+14)
It slays all evil creatures.
u) 26 Seeker Bolts of Slay Evil (4d5) (+15,+10) {}
It slays all evil creatures.
v) 19 Seeker Bolts of Frost (4d5) (+7,+6)
It is branded with frost. It cannot be harmed by cold.
w) 29 Mithril Bolts of Venom (3d5) (+7,+8)
It is branded with poison. It cannot be harmed by acid or fire.
[Options]
Adult: Maximize effect of race/class bonuses : yes (adult_maximize)
Adult: Randomize some of the artifacts (beta): no (adult_randarts)
Adult: Auto-scum for good levels : yes (adult_autoscum)
Adult: Restrict the use of stairs/recall : yes (adult_ironman)
Adult: Restrict the use of stores/home : no (adult_no_stores)
Adult: Restrict creation of artifacts : no
(adult_no_artifacts)
Adult: Don't stack objects on the floor : no (adult_no_stacking)
Adult: Preserve artifacts when leaving level : no (adult_no_preserve)
Adult: Don't generate connected stairs : no (adult_no_stairs)
Adult: Monsters chase current location : yes (adult_ai_sound)
Adult: Monsters chase recent locations : yes (adult_ai_smell)
Adult: Monsters act smarter in groups : yes (adult_ai_packs)
Adult: Monsters learn from their mistakes : no (adult_ai_learn)
Adult: Monsters exploit players weaknesses : no (adult_ai_cheat)
Adult: Monsters behave more intelligently (broken): no
(adult_ai_smart)
Score: Peek into object creation : no (score_peek)
Score: Peek into monster creation : no (score_hear)
Score: Peek into dungeon creation : no (score_room)
Score: Peek into something else : no (score_xtra)
Score: Know complete monster info : no (score_know)
Score: Allow player to avoid death : no (score_live)
Magnate
>
> After losing my previous attempt to an Ethereal Dragon, I was more
> careful to avoid dangerous monsters, and have succeeded in a top-down
> mage.
Huge congratulations. A towering achievement in the post-GoI era.
> Slow monster wands (and sleep as well) are insanely useful to allow
> early mages to rest. IIRC, monsters less than level 11 cannot resist
> this, regardless of your character level. Beyond the escapability,
> they also let you time getting groups of monsters into corridors to
> maximize efficiency with lightning bolt much better.
I didn't know this, but level 11 is only 550', and that only covers the
first few orc types. I would rather it was effective against deeper monsters
but with diminishing probability (for all I know this may be the case, but
it seems to me that uruks and half-orcs *always* save).
> On the other hand, maybe the drops of Great Wyrms just need to be
> trimmed slightly, with resistance they're not very deadly (at least
> the ones that can't summon).
I've just read Eddie's account of Maeglin dropping six(!) artifacts -
presumably that includes the drops from his summons, but even so - I'm
looking forward to getting to these drops.
Well done again,
CC