Morgoth, semper infidelis! (winner, vanilla)
Jussi Pakarinen
many a good character had been vanquished in the claws of Morgoth's
minions, but finally Elgon, the High-Elf mage, defeated the master of the
pits of Angband and died peacefully of Ripe Old Age.
The game version was vanilla 2.8.2, with maximize on, preserve off and
auto-scum on (for almost all of the time as told later.) Backups, cheats
and wizard-modes were out of the question, of course. I have to admit,
though, that playing high-elf mage is the easy way out, but I really
wanted to win at least once without backups! I seem to remember reading
from some rumor-spoiler that "if you want an awesome one (mage), try
high-elf." Well, that is indeed true!
It is a plain fact that I was quite lucky in this game. To begin with, I
found a hard leather armor of Elvenkind (resist poison) early on, which
made life quite a lot easier on the early levels. I ran away a lot from
the badasses, like you are supposed to when playing mage. Levels 30-35 had
killed many of my earlier characters, but in spite of my dread I went
deeper in search of stat-gain potions, which I found quite nicely and
quickly. I used Westernesse, but did not find any nice artifact
weapons yet. I was hoping for to find for example Haradekket, but no.
The next levels passed without remarkable incidents, until I reached level
50 and below. First, I found boots of speed (+7) and soon after that the
war hammer of Aule on the dungeon floor, after which I could manage the
big dragons and almost whatever could come against me at that level.
Therefore, I dived deeper until around level 70 ... Behold! Ringil lies on
the floor of a lesser vault! I was more than slightly elated, because
speed +20 uniques were getting quite common.
The only problem now was that the spellbook "Tenser's Transformations"
remained to be found. I beat several of the unique nasties without globe
of invulnerability (for example Tselakus, Feagwath, Vecna and Murazor),
until I found the missing book from the treasure hoard of Tiamat on level
85. After that I turned the auto-scummer off and went quickly deeper to
finish the remaining few uniques without having to comb through levels
with special feeling. At this point, I could not be bothered to wipe out
ordinary monsters, but genocided and mass genocided them away. Sauron and
Morgoth were as they always are, tough and unpleasant to meet with, but
with globe of invulnerability I defeated them. I was just slightly
dissappointed for not finding any additional artifacts from their treasure
drops, though. Oh well, all is well that ends well.
At no time during the game did I experience a very-close-to-death
situation, if not at the very beginning. Partly thanks to the
auto-scummer, I found a large number of insignificant artifacts, although
I found more of them from the monster drops than from dungeon floor.
Pondering: The globe of invulnerability is quite ridiculous, but I find it
hard to believe that a mage with his/her small number of hit points and no
heal spells could survive a battle with Cerberus, Gothmog, Sauron or
especially Morgoth, without it. I wish there were some other way to
balance this weakness than GoI. Has anyone actually beat Morgoth with a
mage, not using Globe of Invulnerability?
Well, enough of my rant. It was nice to share this with anyone who
read until this point. Here is my character:
[Angband 2.8.2 Character Dump]
Name : Elgon Age 117 STR: 18/1340
Sex : Male Height 97 INT: 18/1420
Race : High-Elf Weight 197 WIS: 18/1380
Class : Mage Social Class 82 DEX: 18/1450
CON: 18/1370
CHR: 18/1450
+ To Hit 58 Level 49 Max Hit Points 894
+ To Damage 53 Experience 9947146 Cur Hit Points 894
+ To AC 98 Max Exp 9947146 Max SP (Mana) 386
Base AC 39 Exp to Adv. 10350000 Cur SP (Mana) 386
Gold 17530770
(Miscellaneous Abilities)
Fighting : Legendary Perception : Good Blows/Round: 4
Bows/Throw : Legendary Searching : Fair Shots/Round: 0
Saving Throw: Legendary Disarming : Superb
Stealth : Superb Magic Device: Legendary Infra-Vision: 1320 feet
(Character Background)
You are the only child of a Teleri Mage. You have light
grey eyes, wavy silver hair, and a fair complexion.
[Character Equipment]
a) The Long Sword 'Ringil' (4d5) (+22,+25) (+10 to speed) {@0!d}
b) (nothing)
c) The Ring of Barahir (+1) {!d}
d) a Ring of Speed (+10) {!k!d}
e) The Amulet of Ingwe (+3) {!d}
f) The Arkenstone of Thrain {!d}
g) Chaos Dragon Scale Mail (-2) [30,+18] {!k!d}
h) The Cloak 'Colannon' [1,+15] (+3 to stealth) {!d}
i) The Large Metal Shield of Anarion [5,+20] {!d}
j) The Massive Iron Crown of Morgoth [0,+0] (+125) {cursed}
k) The Set of Leather Gloves 'Cambeleg' (+8,+8) [1,+15] (+2) {!d}
l) The Pair of Soft Leather Boots 'Dal-i-thalion' [2,+15] (+5) {!d}
[Character Inventory]
a) 3 Books of Magic Spells [Magic for Beginners]
b) 3 Books of Magic Spells [Conjurings and Tricks]
c) 3 Books of Magic Spells [Incantations and Illusions]
d) 3 Books of Magic Spells [Sorcery and Evocations]
e) a Book of Magic Spells [Resistance of Scarabtarices]
f) a Book of Magic Spells [Mordenkainen's Escapes]
g) a Book of Magic Spells [Kelek's Grimoire of Power]
h) a Book of Magic Spells [Tenser's Transformations]
i) a Book of Magic Spells [Raal's Tome of Destruction]
j) 15 Potions of Cure Critical Wounds
k) 11 Potions of Restore Life Levels
l) a Staff of Healing (3 charges)
m) a Staff of the Magi (3 charges)
n) The War Hammer of Aule (9d3) (+19,+21) [+5] (+4) {@0!d}
o) (nothing)
p) (nothing)
q) (nothing)
r) (nothing)
s) (nothing)
t) (nothing)
u) (nothing)
v) (nothing)
w) (nothing)
[Home Inventory (page 1)]
a) 37 Books of Magic Spells [Magic for Beginners]
b) 19 Books of Magic Spells [Conjurings and Tricks]
c) 45 Books of Magic Spells [Incantations and Illusions]
d) 44 Books of Magic Spells [Sorcery and Evocations]
e) 53 Mushrooms of Restoring
f) 99 Potions of Cure Critical Wounds
g) 38 Potions of Healing
h) 44 Potions of Restore Mana
i) 99 Potions of Restore Life Levels
j) 13 Scrolls of *Identify*
k) 82 Scrolls of Enchant Armor
l) 4 Staffs of Healing (3 charges)
[Home Inventory (page 2)]
a) 2 Staffs of the Magi (3 charges)
b) a Ring of Intelligence (+6)
c) The Necklace of the Dwarves (+3)
d) The Augmented Chain Mail of Caspanion (-2) [16,+20] (+3)
e) The Full Plate Armour of Isildur [25,+25] (+1)
f) The Mithril Chain Mail 'Belegennon' (-1) [28,+20] (+4 to stealth)
g) The Small Metal Shield of Thorin [3,+25] (+4)
h) The Hard Leather Cap of Thranduil [2,+10] (+2)
i) The Iron Helm of Dor-Lomin [5,+20] (+4)
j) a Pair of Soft Leather Boots of Speed [2,+10] (+7)
k) The Mighty Hammer 'Grond' (9d9) (+5,+25) [+10]
l) (nothing)
"This morning's unprecedented solar eclipse is no cause for alarm."
(an announcement in "Flash Gordon" [a movie])
Jussi Pakarinen
--
"This morning's unprecedented solar eclipse is no cause for alarm."
(an announcement in "Flash Gordon" [a movie])
Jussi Pakarinen
Milbank Singapore
> Pondering: The globe of invulnerability is quite ridiculous, but I find it
> hard to believe that a mage with his/her small number of hit points and no
> heal spells could survive a battle with Cerberus, Gothmog, Sauron or
> especially Morgoth, without it. I wish there were some other way to
> balance this weakness than GoI. Has anyone actually beat Morgoth with a
> mage, not using Globe of Invulnerability?
>
Sure, Phase door and Mana Storm will do the trick given enough time but
you will need a *lot* of potions of restore mana and lots of healing
from whatever source. High level offensive spells need beefing up in
vanilla and GoI toning down but then we all know that!!
John Holton
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Excerpts from the book 1,001 wayds to cook a slime mold ...
Slime Mold Shish Kebab. Ingredients: 1 fresh slime mold, 1 large wooden
chest, 1 battle axe, 1 wooden torch, 1 iron spike, 2 broken sticks.
Using battle axe, smash wooden chest into fire wood. Light wood with
torch. Place broken sticks upright on either side of fire. Skewer slime
mold with iron spike and rest it on sticks. Rotate frequently until
slime mold is golden brown. Best served hot with a pint of fine ale.
WRad243519
>chest, 1 battle axe, 1 wooden torch, 1 iron spike, 2 broken sticks.
>Using battle axe, smash wooden chest into fire wood. Light wood with
>torch. Place broken sticks upright on either side of fire. Skewer slime
>mold with iron spike and rest it on sticks. Rotate frequently until
>slime mold is golden brown. Best served hot with a pint of fine ale.
I know someone who will not be on the rescue ships!
Cannibal.
Slime molds forever.
Humans never.
Wrdlbrmpft
>
>
> Pondering: The globe of invulnerability is quite ridiculous, but I find it
> hard to believe that a mage with his/her small number of hit points and no
> heal spells could survive a battle with Cerberus, Gothmog, Sauron or
> especially Morgoth, without it. I wish there were some other way to
> balance this weakness than GoI. Has anyone actually beat Morgoth with a
> mage, not using Globe of Invulnerability?
>
Yes. Once.
My first mage winner found Tensor's at 4900' and used it
for the last few uniques. Then i decided my next mage has
to live without GoI (and Word of Destruction).
I rolled out a half troll mage (for the hit points).
Maximize of course. (If a half-troll wants to be a mage,
he has to accept his poor stats).
I intended to mana-storm Morgoth to death, but my
spell casting abilities were far too bad (int 18/110).
But then i found that nice Heavy Crossbow of Velocity (+17.+34).
Best one i ever saw.
And killed Morgoth with Bolts of slay Evil.
Used only 9 potions of Healing in the battle.
(and 5 potions of Restore Mana, since Mass Genocide was about 50% fail,
and i only had 226 spell points).
Werner.