Kavlax - How easy?
DV. Vanden Bon
Was wondering around 2000' with my level 36 priest when I found a master lich.
I was in the process of blinking around and pounding it with OoD when I blinked
in a room with a dragon. I thought 'Oh well he wont wake up (excellent stelth)
I will go back and kill the Lich. I moved and Kavlax breathed gravity. My hit
points plummeted to 10 but the gravity took me out of sight of Kavlax and back
to the lich. The next turn I had 310 hit points thanks to my spell of healing.
I polished off the Lich and went after Kavlax. I moved till he would come into
the room that I was in. He appeared and I threw a potion of detonations at
him. He moved forward and I threw another one at him. I found one very early
and the nice master lich had just dropped another. He then brethed cold, not a
problem. The next turn I hit him and he went down like a stone through a wet
paper bag. I was so impressed.
He dropped boots of speed +9 by the way:-)
David
Eric Wright
My experience is that Kavlax isn't a problem if you have speed
+10 (ie. temporary speed) and you are prepared. I popped into
a room with Kavlax who was already awake. He breathed sound,
taking me down a couple hundred points. I teleported out of the
room, came back through a zig-zag tunnel, and stood toe-to-toe
with him with a GWAngband mage! No point in using spells. Even
explosion, which is non-resistive, takes too many mana points
to repeatedly cast...
Got a lousy drop, tho'
E
William Taylor Wilson
Excerpts from netnews.rec.games.roguelike.angband: 11-Mar-97 Kavlax -
How easy? by "DV. Vanden Bon"@???
I hate Kavlax. He kills me every game. (three games in a row now).
From what I know about the game, I think that maybe out of all the
uniques, he is probably in the top 5 for overall impossibility to kill,
along with Tiamat, the Tarrasque, Sauron, and, well, that's it. Number
4.
> I will go back and kill the Lich. I moved and Kavlax breathed gravity. My
Last time Kavlax breathed gravity (level 35 paladin) I died outright.
Since there's no way to resist gravity, I find it extremely annoying.
> the room that I was in. He appeared and I threw a potion of detonations at
I usually drink those. :) Potions of death are another favorite of mine.
Sean Clayton
William Taylor Wilson wrote:
> I hate Kavlax. He kills me every game. (three games in a row now).
> From what I know about the game, I think that maybe out of all the
> uniques, he is probably in the top 5 for overall impossibility to kill,
> along with Tiamat, the Tarrasque, Sauron, and, well, that's it.
It sounds like you're either just VERY unlucky with Kavlax or that
you're going in with too few HPs. At 1900' or so when Kavlax starts
appearing, if you have basic resists, at least 300HPs and (preferably) a
good dragon-bashing weapon, you should be fine.
My last two characters didn't have any problems with him. Alatar, a
wimpy Human Mage, made toast of him with Calris within 7 or 8 combat
rounds (and this was only at speed +10). A few weeks later, Daeron, a
Dwarf Priest, disposed of him with nothing more than a Slay Evil Broad
Axe (proving that you don't need a certified dragon-buster to kill
Kavlax). And he was at +0 speed and still polished Kavvo off within,
hmm, about 15 combat rounds or so.
From what I remember of earlier Kavlax posts, only his Gravity breaths
cause serious trouble and you're probably just plain unlucky to have got
hit by one each time before reducing his HPs and attack strength,
Sean.
PS: Is it just because Alatar has Calris or are Glaurung, Smaug, Scatha
and Ancalagon all pretty underpowered, considering their Tolkien-based
reputation and their counterparts at similar levels? Eg. Ancalagon and
Gabriel or Azriel is no contest whatsoever.
Mind you, I've never met Tiamat yet...
PPS: How the *&$@ is one supposed to stand a chance against Gabriel and
Azriel???
Chris Kern
William Taylor Wilson <flu...@andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:
>I hate Kavlax. He kills me every game. (three games in a row now).
>From what I know about the game, I think that maybe out of all the
>uniques, he is probably in the top 5 for overall impossibility to kill,
>along with Tiamat, the Tarrasque, Sauron, and, well, that's it. Number
>4.
Now this is strange. Both times I have met Kavlax I have just walked
up to him and hacked him twice or three times and killed him. When my
mage fought him, he did breathe ice, but it only did 100 or so.
On that top five list, what about Medusa? She smashes me every time I
try to fight her. Mabye I'm just not doing it right....
How about the top five most annoying to kill:
1) The Queen Ant
2) Draebor, the Imp
3) Lorgan, cheif of the Easterlings
4) Shelob, Spider of Darkness
5) Hmmm...not sure...
-Chris
Remove "junkmail" in my return address to reply.
Eric Wright
Chris Kern wrote:
>
> William Taylor Wilson <flu...@andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:
>
> >I hate Kavlax. He kills me every game. (three games in a row now).
> >From what I know about the game, I think that maybe out of all the
> >uniques, he is probably in the top 5 for overall impossibility to kill,
> >along with Tiamat, the Tarrasque, Sauron, and, well, that's it. Number
> >4.
>
> Now this is strange. Both times I have met Kavlax I have just walked
> up to him and hacked him twice or three times and killed him. When my
> mage fought him, he did breathe ice, but it only did 100 or so.
>
> On that top five list, what about Medusa? She smashes me every time I
> try to fight her. Mabye I'm just not doing it right....
>
> How about the top five most annoying to kill:
> 1) The Queen Ant
I agree. Summon ants 1 time in 2 when at speed +10 means
a new batch every round. Since she comes with escorts, I
rarely find her in close quarters, which would decrease
the summonings.
> 2) Draebor, the Imp
I have to side with a previous poster: Draebor, the WImp
I'd move Lorgan up here.
> 3) Lorgan, cheif of the Easterlings
I'd put Gorlim, betrayer of Barahir here. His mana bolts and
immunity to damn near everything make him really tough for all
but the toughest fighters. The priest's OoD is slightly useful,
but at ~80 points of damage per casting, that takes a LONG time!
> 4) Shelob, Spider of Darkness
I never seem to have problems with Shelob. I'd have to put
the Tarrasque here. Even with disenchantment resistance,
the 2 times I've met him were a LONG struggle!
> 5) Hmmm...not sure...
Might have to say Mughash, the kobold lord. But then, 20 large
kobolds are quite a test to most any <10th level character.
I seem to get the phial from him about 50% of the time, though.
Nathan Marston
On Tue, 11 Mar 1997, Sean Clayton wrote:
[snip unlucky experiences with kavlax and good response]
>
> PPS: How the *&$@ is one supposed to stand a chance against Gabriel and
> Azriel???
>
>
Moot point - These boys are tough. You can't get a slay on them (as far as
I know - although is Azriel evil?) So you are stuffed when it comes to
getting the damage into them. I normally end up throwing everything +
kithchen sink at them - and eventually getting lucky on their moves.
Cheers
Nathan
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
93...@eng.cam.ac.uk
_________________________________________________________________________________
Peter J. I. Ellis
Chase wrote;
> (Side Note : Be nice if they were changed, away from being
> Arch-Angels towards Tolkienesque names - insane Maiar, lesser deities,
> something....
In connection with which -- why are Sauron and Morgoth "p" and "P" rather
than "U"? Sauron's a Maia (same as the Balrogs), and Morgoth's a god!
Perhaps there needs to be a different symbol for them...
Peter
Dan Schroeder
In article <3325D2...@tcd.ie>, clay...@tcd.ie writes...
> PS: Is it just because Alatar has Calris or are Glaurung, Smaug, Scatha
>and Ancalagon all pretty underpowered, considering their Tolkien-based
>reputation and their counterparts at similar levels? Eg. Ancalagon and
>Gabriel or Azriel is no contest whatsoever.
i agree completely. especially for characters with double resistances,
the elemental breaths of these dragons are utterly unthreatening. my
elf mage had some trouble with ancalagon recently, but only because
he waited until 4900' where ancalagon summoned a bunch of nasty wyrms.
> PPS: How the *&$@ is one supposed to stand a chance against Gabriel and
>Azriel???
avoid 'em until much later, when you're more powerful. with a decent
failure rate on mana storm and a staff of the magi, they're not that
much trouble. (GoI would help too, but i've gotten along without it.)
-dan
Joseph William Dixon
In a fit of madness Chris Kern (ck...@junkmailnetnitco.net) wrote:
: Now this is strange. Both times I have met Kavlax I have just walked
: up to him and hacked him twice or three times and killed him. When my
: mage fought him, he did breathe ice, but it only did 100 or so.
Wait until he decides to breathe Gravity at you twice in a row before
you get a chance to do anything about him... [he's started to leave me
alone in recent games; the key, I think, is to *ALWAYS* <l>ook at any 'd'
(multicolored confirmed or not!) before you approach at 1600' or deeper]
: On that top five list, what about Medusa? She smashes me every time I
: try to fight her. Mabye I'm just not doing it right....
She's one of the ones that you've pretty much got to run away from for
the first two times. What you need to do to kill her is to lure her into
a dead-end corridor [usually one you've dug yourself] so that you can get
your back against a wall. (so that she can't summon effectively)
: How about the top five most annoying to kill:
: 1) The Queen Ant
Only when she summons red ants... She's a cinch, otherwise.
: 2) Draebor, the Imp
He's a wimp. A couple of Orbs of Draining or Dispel Evils does the
trick. Frost Balls take a bit longer. He's really only troublesome for
warriors & rogues 'cause of their limited access to ball or wide-area
attacks. Draebor usually has time to teleport those two off the level. :(
: 3) Lorgan, cheif of the Easterlings
Annoying? Nah. Just tough. :) Get yourself to the end of a dead-end
corridor and fight him from there. Without him being able to summon very
well, it's mostly a matter of beating on him for a while.
: 4) Shelob, Spider of Darkness
Only if you don't have Resist Poison, Free Action and a decent saving
throw. Sustain Strength helps as well. The things she can summon are
rather wimpy and can therefore pretty much be ignored...
***********************************************************************
* "Hot funk, cool punk, even if it's old junk * aa...@chebucto.ns.ca *
* It's still rock and roll to me" (Billy Joel) * Gumby * Team AMIGA *
****************** http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~aa343/ ******************
Eugene van der Pijll
In <lawlessE...@netcom.com> law...@netcom.com (Chase) writes:
[snip "Its difficult to kill the unique angels"]
>(Side Note : Be nice if they were changed, away from being
>Arch-Angels towards Tolkienesque names - insane Maiar, lesser deities,
>something....
You could change the discription of the class to:
"A - Ainur (Valar/Maiar)", and move all Ainur that are in the game already
to this category. This would include Sauron and Morgoth, and probably the
Balrogs.
IIRC Morgoth had corrupted many Maiar ("angels") that were originally in
the service of other Valar ("gods"). These could play the role of the
several Devas, the Planetars & the Solars. (Perhaps the Solars were the
Maiar belonging to the Vala of the Sun [Forgot her (his?) name])
I don't have a copy of the Silmarillion at hand, so correct me if I'm
wrong.
\
Eugene
--
\
Eugene van der Pijll (pi...@fys.ruu.nl)
"Luck is my middle name. Mind you, my first name is Bad."
-- Terry Pratchett, Interesting Times
Timo Pietila
Peter J. I. Ellis <pj...@hermes.cam.ac.uk> wrote:
>Chase wrote;
>> (Side Note : Be nice if they were changed, away from being
>> Arch-Angels towards Tolkienesque names - insane Maiar, lesser deities,
>> something....
>In connection with which -- why are Sauron and Morgoth "p" and "P" rather
>than "U"? Sauron's a Maia (same as the Balrogs), and Morgoth's a god!
>Perhaps there needs to be a different symbol for them...
I think this is because they look like a human and enormous giant. Other
maiar (at least evil ones) don't look like any 'normal' beings.
What does balrog look like: (found this in the net)
A Balrog possibly was of man-shape, although much larger. It had a mane
that could be wreathed in flame and it could surround itself
with darkness. The best description of a Balrog is given when Gandalf
faces it on the Bridge of Khazad-dum:
"Something was coming up behind them. What it was could not be
seen: it was like a great shadow, in the middle of which was a dark
form, of man-shape maybe, yet greater; and a power and terror
seemed to be in it and go before it...It streaming mane kindled
and blazed behind it. In its right hand was a blade like a stabbing
tongue of fire; in its left it held a whip of many thongs....His
enemy halted again, facing him, and the shadows about it reached
out like two vast wings. It raised the whip, and the thongs whined
and cracked. Fire came from its nostrils."
>Peter
--
Timo Pietila
Email: tpie...@ratol.ratol.fi
or
Email: timo.p...@ratol.fi
dh...@cam.ac.uk
In article <5g7511$6...@News.Dal.Ca>, aa...@chebucto.ns.ca (Joseph William
Dixon) wrote:
>: How about the top five most annoying to kill:
>: 1) The Queen Ant
I killed her without a problem (didn't even realise she was a unique until
she died). FOught her around a corner so the ants she summoned could
easily be teleoprted away if they were annoying.
>
>: 2) Draebor, the Imp
>
> He's a wimp. A couple of Orbs of Draining or Dispel Evils does the
>trick. Frost Balls take a bit longer. He's really only troublesome for
>warriors & rogues 'cause of their limited access to ball or wide-area
>attacks. Draebor usually has time to teleport those two off the level. :(
Until you learn the tactic (stand out of sight and ball him to death) he
is really annyoing it took me about 5 attempts with a mage before I
managed to stop him teleporting me down a level.
>
>: 3) Lorgan, cheif of the Easterlings
>
> Annoying? Nah. Just tough. :) Get yourself to the end of a dead-end
>corridor and fight him from there. Without him being able to summon very
>well, it's mostly a matter of beating on him for a while.
He is very tough, has lots of resists, and summons nasty unqiques (the
worst being Scatha th Wyrm (something like that) who reduced me to 6HP
before I tped away.
>
>: 4) Shelob, Spider of Darkness
ANother one I found very easy. She generously summoned Wimpy spiders
between myself an her so I could simply stand back and fire ball weapons
at her until she died.
--
Freedom is an alarm clock that plays Brahms's Lullaby [T. Conway]
Dave Howdon (dh...@cam.ac.uk)
Chris Kern
Eric Wright <wri...@spike.physics.ncsu.edu> wrote:
Note that the idea was the most annoying to kill....
>> 2) Draebor, the Imp
>I have to side with a previous poster: Draebor, the WImp
>I'd move Lorgan up here.
Draebor is so annoying just because of his teleport level and teleport
away.
>> 3) Lorgan, cheif of the Easterlings
>I'd put Gorlim, betrayer of Barahir here. His mana bolts and
>immunity to damn near everything make him really tough for all
>but the toughest fighters.
He's tough, but I wouldn't say he's particularly annoying besides
that.
William Taylor Wilson
Excerpts from netnews.rec.games.roguelike.angband: 11-Mar-97 Re: Kavlax
- How easy? by Sean Cla...@tcd.ie
> It sounds like you're either just VERY unlucky with Kavlax or that
I think that's what it is. Once Lorgan conjured him up while I was
already busy and he killed me with a confusion breath, and once I
teleported away from a vault and landed 2 spaces away from him, and he
killed me with a nexus breath, and this last time he followed a bunch of
air hounds down a dark tunnel *SURPRISE* and breathed gravity. Doesn't
this guy ever breath fire like a normal dragon? Bah.
My current character (Dunadan paladin, 2.8.0, preserve on, autoscum off,
no cheating, just like the last one- the previous two were priests, one
human and one half-elf) is level 27, and just finishedd clearing out a
particularly interesting dungeon level 29 containing Bolg (and his pet
Hell Hound! Makes him a lot tougher), Lokkak, Lagduf, Ufthak, Ulfast,
Nar, Shagrat, Sangahyando, Angamaite, Mim, two orc pits, a Defender and
*Slay* evil lying on the floor, and a diagonal lesser vault (where some
of the uniques and the *Slay* were, along with a Nexus Quylthulg who
kept threatening to teleport me off the level). I gained four levels...
I let Sangahyando, Mim, and Angamaite all live because I didn't have
room for all the stuff I already had (and I was fresh out of speed)...
Actually I had to fight Lokkak at +0 speed too (five or six times
actually before I finally wore him out) because he was guarding my
stash... talk about a superb feeling... I was expecting Kavlax any
minute, but he didn't show. ;)
Really this has to be the strangest game of Angband I've ever played. I
didn't find the Phial until Gorbag dropped it at 1200'. I *still*
haven't run into Bullroarer (Well, I did a long time ago, but wanted to
save him for later- haven't seen him since). Wormtongue dropped only
one item (at 700 feet!), a Defender Tulwar (exactly the same as happened
last game), and I found, then lost again, Belangil, in an orc pit. I
had a bunch of stuff I wanted to pseudo-ID, so I dropped it to shut off
the regeneration so I wouldn't have to cast satisfy hunger so much (I
had to drop it because I didn't have any room in my inventory), then
suddenly Draebor shows up and teleports me off the level. I was a
little disturbed. Am I correct in assuming that because I identified
and had been using this artifact, I will not get it back even though I
am in preserve mode? Or will it come back anyway? That sure is a nice
weapon... lots of attacks, that spiffy activation (less damage than a
melee attack, but more than my OoD at that point, and good against
breeders and very short recharge time).
Also, I've seen more uniques summoned then ever before. Probably half
of the uniques I've seen were summoned... what's fun is when some priest
summons up an Orc unique complete with escorts. :)
William Taylor Wilson
Excerpts from netnews.rec.games.roguelike.angband: 11-Mar-97 Re: Kavlax
> 1) The Queen Ant
I'll give you that one. She is no fun.
> 2) Draebor, the Imp
I don't know what the deal is with Draebor. Other than him teleporting
me off the level and costing me Belangil, I've never had any trouble
with this guy. He's not fast enough to cast his spells that much, he's
not that tough, priests can just dispel him, and he doesn't heal that
fast. It may take a few go-rounds to get him, but he's not vicious,
just disturbing.
> 3) Lorgan, cheif of the Easterlings
My big problem with Lorgan is that he summons Kavlax. :)
> 4) Shelob, Spider of Darkness
Shelob is not hard for me. If you can get to +10 speed and some kind of
poison resistshe can't hurt you. Mages, rogues, and rangers therefore
should have no trouble as they can cast the spell, while priests and
paladins can use protection from evil (priests maybe can dispel, too,
but OoD is probably better) to great effect. Only fighters could have
serious problems, but if you're lucky enough to have an item with res
poison, you shouldn't have any trouble. I do occasionally have to kill
her in a hall, though, which probably cuts down on the treasure drop...
usually I try to portal/teleport out and come back and shoot her with
some sort of non-littering (i.e. not a bow) range attack like <x> bolts
or OoD, as she charges across a room with spiders in hot pursuit. Then
I take off, let the spiders chase me into some random place, either
teleport out of there or kill them, and go back for the stuff.
You do have to deal with the loss of strength problem, maybe either
bring a potion/mushroom or (better solution) stay away from her and kill
her with a range weapon.
Sheldon Simms
> I think this is because they look like a human and enormous giant.
Morgoth isn't an enormous giant. If he were, he could have simply
stepped on Fingolfin and been done with it. Instead he had to
fight him. At the end he stood on Fingolfin's neck, specifically;
evidence that his foot was not so large (it had to fit on Fingolfin's
neck without also covering Fingolfin's whole body).
> Other maiar (at least evil ones) don't look like any 'normal' beings.
Sure they do.
> What does balrog look like:
>
> "Something was coming up behind them. What it was could not be
> seen: it was like a great shadow, in the middle of which was a dark
> form, of man-shape maybe, yet greater; and a power and terror
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ [1]
> seemed to be in it and go before it...It's streaming mane kindled
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ [2]
> and blazed behind it. In its right hand was a blade like a stabbing
> tongue of fire; in its left it held a whip of many thongs....His
> enemy halted again, facing him, and the shadows about it reached
> out like two vast wings. It raised the whip, and the thongs whined
> and cracked. Fire came from its nostrils."
[1] It is of man-shape (as far as it's shape can be seen at all, as it
is surrounded by darkness)
[2] This just means its hair, not a mane like a lion or horse.
Balrogs are humanoid figures, just like other Maia. I imagine them as
having long hair, wearing some kind of clothing or armor, with a light-
absorbing region of darkness surrounding them. I think illustrators that
draw huge demonic figures with horns, wings, etc. are making exactly
the same mistake as the illustrators who draw Gollum as some sort of
evil frog-monster (Rankin-Bass). Tolkien's world just doesn't have
much to offer in the way of "Dungeons & Dragons style" monsters.
--
W. Sheldon Simms III | 2000 is *still* the 20th century
she...@atlcom.net |
Frank Muzzulini
"Peter J. I. Ellis" <pj...@hermes.cam.ac.uk> writes:
> In connection with which -- why are Sauron and Morgoth "p" and "P" rather
> than "U"? Sauron's a Maia (same as the Balrogs), and Morgoth's a god!
> Perhaps there needs to be a different symbol for them...
Morgoth is a Valar, which is nothing more than an especially mighty
Maiar. There's *one* god in Tolkien's universe, as the elves know
well. Only humans consider the valar to be gods :-)
Muzz
--
___ Frank Muzzulini Kaiserstr. 1 76131 Karlsruhe mu...@pond.sub.org
<*,*> ... until the colour of a man skin is of no more
[`-'] significance than the colour of his eyes ... Bob Marley (War)
-"-"-
Jeremy Bowers
In article <pijll.8...@ruunat.fys.ruu.nl>, pi...@fys.ruu.nl says...
>
>In <lawlessE...@netcom.com> law...@netcom.com (Chase) writes:
>
>[snip "Its difficult to kill the unique angels"]
>
>>Arch-Angels towards Tolkienesque names - insane Maiar, lesser deities,
>>something....
>
>"A - Ainur (Valar/Maiar)", and move all Ainur that are in the game already
>to this category. This would include Sauron and Morgoth, and probably the
>Balrogs.
>
>IIRC Morgoth had corrupted many Maiar ("angels") that were originally in
>the service of other Valar ("gods"). These could play the role of the
>several Devas, the Planetars & the Solars. (Perhaps the Solars were the
>Maiar belonging to the Vala of the Sun [Forgot her (his?) name])
>
>I don't have a copy of the Silmarillion at hand, so correct me if I'm
>wrong.
I would personally agree strongly with changing these names to something more
Tolkeinish. I find these additions to be jolting. The rest of the game is
sooo Tolkien, even if it is only in spirit (i.e. it has an extremely low
"realism" quotient in terms of integrety to the story(s)), but those things
feel wrong.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Jeremy Bowers bowe...@pilot.msu.edu http://www.cps.msu.edu/~bowersj2 -
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
neko the cat
Chris Kern (ck...@junkmailnetnitco.net) wrote:
: William Taylor Wilson <flu...@andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:
: How about the top five most annoying to kill:
: 1) The Queen Ant
: 2) Draebor, the Imp
: 3) Lorgan, cheif of the Easterlings
: 4) Shelob, Spider of Darkness
: 5) Hmmm...not sure...
what, no unique Q's? Yeek-Brats? Ungoliant the Unhard (sorry, summoning cave
spiders at death's door doesn't win hardy points (:B)? Then you can go
beyond uniques, and include every l and I, all the Q's (particularly nexus),
nexus hounds, and Message Mushrooms...
btw, i've never found draebor that difficult to beat...either i walk up to
it while it's sleeping and make imp pie, or it goes away and i ignore it
until i see it again. i don't think he's successfully level 'ported me
once...maybe i'm just lucky.
: -Chris
: Remove "junkmail" in my return address to reply.
--
-- neko *meow*
Timo Pietila
Sheldon Simms <she...@atlcom.net> wrote:
>In article <5g8f78$e...@news.ratol.fi>, Timo Pietila <tpie...@ratol.fi> wrote:
>> I think this is because they look like a human and enormous giant.
>Morgoth isn't an enormous giant. If he were, he could have simply
Of course he isn't. He just looked like one. I remember one part of the
silmarillion where Morgoths appearance is decribed as huge giant. I think
giants in Tolkien world are not very big. More like large trolls.
>stepped on Fingolfin and been done with it. Instead he had to
>fight him. At the end he stood on Fingolfin's neck, specifically;
>evidence that his foot was not so large (it had to fit on Fingolfin's
>neck without also covering Fingolfin's whole body).
:-) Maybe he had small feets :-)
>> Other maiar (at least evil ones) don't look like any 'normal' beings.
>Sure they do.
Not nessessary. Any ainur could take many forms. Maybe humanoid form is
just considered as best possible (or most natural) form. IIRC Ungolianth
is also described to be a spirit (IE one of the ainur) but she looked like
huge spider. Also both Morgoth and Sauron lost their ability to change
form so I figured that changing form is possible to only creatures that
are not totally evil.
>> What does balrog look like:
>>
>> "Something was coming up behind them. What it was could not be
>> seen: it was like a great shadow, in the middle of which was a dark
>> form, of man-shape maybe, yet greater; and a power and terror
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ [1]
>> seemed to be in it and go before it...It's streaming mane kindled
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ [2]
>> and blazed behind it. In its right hand was a blade like a stabbing
>> tongue of fire; in its left it held a whip of many thongs....His
>> enemy halted again, facing him, and the shadows about it reached
>> out like two vast wings. It raised the whip, and the thongs whined
>> and cracked. Fire came from its nostrils."
>[1] It is of man-shape (as far as it's shape can be seen at all, as it
> is surrounded by darkness)
Man-shaped doesn't mean that it looked anything like human.
>[2] This just means its hair, not a mane like a lion or horse.
>Balrogs are humanoid figures, just like other Maia. I imagine them as
>having long hair, wearing some kind of clothing or armor, with a light-
>absorbing region of darkness surrounding them. I think illustrators that
This is much like I imagined them myself. Just bigger and surrounded by
fire and shadow.
>draw huge demonic figures with horns, wings, etc. are making exactly
>the same mistake as the illustrators who draw Gollum as some sort of
>evil frog-monster (Rankin-Bass). Tolkien's world just doesn't have
>much to offer in the way of "Dungeons & Dragons style" monsters.
--
Timo Pietila
Chris Kern <ck...@junkmailnetnitco.net> wrote:
>How about the top five most annoying to kill:
>1) The Queen Ant
>2) Draebor, the Imp
>3) Lorgan, cheif of the Easterlings
>4) Shelob, Spider of Darkness
>5) Hmmm...not sure...
Uniques:
1) Saruman (killing him takes forever because he teleports away when
scared)
2) Lorgan, chief of the easterlings (Summoning and toughness combined)
3) Wormtongue (easy but very annoying. I simply don't have patience to
kill him later in game)
4) Tselakus, the Dreadlord (His summonings are nasty)
5) Fundin Bluecloak (summoning)
Glothar
I have to cast my vote for the Emporer Quylythulg (sp?).
I met this guy one time in a large ordinary room...
I tried to knock him off before he summoned a room full of Deep Uniques
and Dread*s, but I wasn't fast enough, and he was in the center of the
room.
Summoned up some nasty monsters that made me so terrified that did my
teleport level trick. (Not really a trick, but it must've looked cool.)
Included were:
Smaug
Glaurung
A few Dreadlords
Some large Unknown Demons
Muar
and god knows what else.
The room was getting rather full, and the dreadlords were beating the
living snot out of me.
I find earthquakes helpful in dealing with him.
Peter J. I. Ellis
Frank Muzzulini wrote;
>
> "Peter J. I. Ellis" writes:
> > ...and Morgoth's a god!
> There's *one* god in Tolkien's universe, as the elves know
> well. Only humans consider the valar to be gods :-)
>
> Muzz
Hmmmmmm. Can I take it that you're an elf, then? <g, d & r>
Peter
Greg Wooledge
On Thu, 13 Mar 1997 10:23:15 -0500, William Taylor Wilson <flu...@andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:
>My current character (Dunadan paladin, 2.8.0, preserve on, autoscum off,
>Am I correct in assuming that because I identified
>and had been using this artifact, I will not get it back even though I
>am in preserve mode?
Yes. Once you've identified an artifact, it's marked "generated".
It doesn't matter whether you've equipped it or even picked it up.
--
------------ Greg Wooledge -------------
------- <wool...@kellnet.com> -------
--- <http://kellnet.com/wooledge/main.html> ---
Sheldon Simms
In article <01bc30a8$e3b59b20$6685...@pjie2.emma.cam.ac.uk>, "Peter J. I.
Ellis" <pj...@hermes.cam.ac.uk> wrote:
> Frank Muzzulini wrote;
> >
> > There's *one* god in Tolkien's universe, as the elves know
> > well. Only humans consider the valar to be gods :-)
>
> Hmmmmmm. Can I take it that you're an elf, then? <g, d & r>
I just can't imagine an elf named "Frank".
...and thus, when Ereinion Gil-Galad fell on the slopes of Orodruin,
the kingship of the Noldor passed to Frank...
...then Sauron was filled with wrath and moved in open war against
the elves, and Celebrimbor was slain on the steps of his hall but
Frank escaped and fled to Lindon, carrying with him the 3 rings...
Douglas Clayborn Peterson
On Tue, 11 Mar 1997, Chris Kern wrote:
> How about the top five most annoying to kill:
> 1) The Queen Ant
> 2) Draebor, the Imp
> 3) Lorgan, cheif of the Easterlings
> 4) Shelob, Spider of Darkness
> 5) Hmmm...not sure...
>
> -Chris
5) Bullroarer the Hobbit. Always steals most of my gold and at least one
object I really like. Once I was fighting him and in burst Mughash the
Kobold Lord, along with his escorts. That got ugly.
Clay
joseph oberlander
Most annoying?
Easy - Magic Mushrooms. By far the most annoying things in the game, and
worth almost nothing in xp or drops.
Most grief *non unique* - would be the Umber Hulk, as being confused
and him usually pounding a hole right through the vault allows things to
swarm in on your confused butt.
Gravity Hounds are almost tied.
Diggers and teleporters are my least favorite, though.
Resist confusion is VERY hard to locate at the levels Umber Hulks appear.
(once had 3 of them on one level attacking me at once - not. fun.)
Most annoying Unique would be(forget name right now) that snot that
appears at about 1500 and drains your items and makes you "forget"
At the level he comes at, your chances of surviving without some damage to
your items and mind is very slim.
Most grief Unique would be the Lich King a few levels out of depth.
BLAM! Instant 6 - 8 out of level Unique Liches. Life just got a LOT LOT
harder. Did I also mention the things the other Liches summon?
Had a couple of ROOMS full of uglies in a matter of 2-3 turns.
Abigail
On 19 Mar 97 23:06:06 GMT, joseph oberlander wrote in rec.games.roguelike.angband:
++ Most annoying?
I really hate hounds. It takes ages to kill a pack, and when you
teleport away from one pack, I always land in the middle of
a pack of Water Hounds. *sigh*
I've been seriously toying with the idea of changing some source
files to limit the number of hounds.
++ Easy - Magic Mushrooms. By far the most annoying things in the game, and
++ worth almost nothing in xp or drops.
Easy, just fry them with some balls.
++ Most grief *non unique* - would be the Umber Hulk, as being confused
++ and him usually pounding a hole right through the vault allows things to
++ swarm in on your confused butt.
I never have much problems with Umber Hulks. One OoD is often enough.
Abigail
Chase
On Thu, 20 Mar 1997 07:39:23 GMT, Abigail wrote:
: I really hate hounds. It takes ages to kill a pack, and when you
: teleport away from one pack, I always land in the middle of
: a pack of Water Hounds. *sigh*
Funny - I kinda like hounds. Pretty decent experience for 'em, and not
all that hard to handle unless you teleport into a room full of them.
A few types are a pain, admittedly : gravity for slowing you, nexus for
teleporting you around and sometimes off level (lost a few artifacts
that way, since I play non-preserve mode), chaos for transforming those
nice little trolls into something nasty.
: ++ Easy - Magic Mushrooms. By far the most annoying things in the game,
: ++ and worth almost nothing in xp or drops.
: Easy, just fry them with some balls.
Still a definate pain for fighters and rogues, and not all that easy to
nail all of 'em with ball spells if there's enough of them blinking about
and darkening the area. Still mostly a pain because of the sheer number
of messages they generate.
-- \_awless is : Chase Vogelsberg (law...@netcom.com / law...@howling.com)
--
-- I've got a couple of years on you baby, that's all.
-- I've found a few more places to fly and many more places to fall....
Roger Miller
Chase (Law...@netcom.coma) wrote:
: On Thu, 20 Mar 1997 07:39:23 GMT, Abigail wrote:
: : I really hate hounds. It takes ages to kill a pack, and when you
: : teleport away from one pack, I always land in the middle of
: : a pack of Water Hounds. *sigh*
: : ++ Easy - Magic Mushrooms. By far the most annoying things in the game,
: : ++ and worth almost nothing in xp or drops.
: : Easy, just fry them with some balls.
I find them a pain without ball weapons and telepathy. At least the're
basically harmless.
One of my least favorite (not terribly dangerous) critters--ochre
jellies--I've had inventories demolished and my armour class decimated
when I couldn't phase away quickly enough. A least favorite low level
unique has to be Boldor, King of the Yeeks. He's fine if he stays in
place, but I've had him summons a couple of legions of master Yeeks, one
after another as I eliminated the previous one, and not stay around long
enough to take even a couple of swings at him.
Chris Kern
>One of my least favorite (not terribly dangerous) critters--ochre
>jellies--I've had inventories demolished and my armour class decimated
>when I couldn't phase away quickly enough.
Heh...try Acidic Cytoplasms. They make ochre jellies look like clear
mushroom patches.
rune...@aol.com
>>One of my least favorite (not terribly dangerous) critters--ochre
>>jellies--I've had inventories demolished and my armour class decimated
>>when I couldn't phase away quickly enough.
>
>Heh...try Acidic Cytoplasms. They make ochre jellies look like clear
>mushroom patches.
Right up until you get Thorin ;-).
--
Rune the Esper Magician (Eli Waggoner)
"This is the thing they call 'magic.'"
- Rune the Esper, Phantasy Star III
Greg Wooledge
On Thu, 13 Mar 1997 10:40:19 -0500, William Taylor Wilson <flu...@andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:
>> 4) Shelob, Spider of Darkness
>
>Shelob is not hard for me. If you can get to +10 speed and some kind of
>poison resistshe can't hurt you.
Poison resistance is irrelevant. Shelob has this nasty tendency to scream
"DIE!", which all too often works on characters with lousy saving throws.
If it weren't for that one spell, I'd consider her weak.
(I tend to play half-orcs and half-trolls rather often, so I suffer this
more often than your typical high-elf mage would.)
Greg Wooledge
On Thu, 20 Mar 1997 14:51:11 GMT, Chase <Law...@netcom.coma> wrote:
>Funny - I kinda like hounds. Pretty decent experience for 'em, and not
>all that hard to handle unless you teleport into a room full of them.
You're strange. :-)
>A few types are a pain, admittedly : gravity for slowing you, nexus for
>teleporting you around and sometimes off level (lost a few artifacts
>that way, since I play non-preserve mode), chaos for transforming those
>nice little trolls into something nasty.
Don't forget time hounds. I've lost 2 good high-level characters to
these guys; one a long time ago, who was killed outright by them, and
one recently who was substantially weakened by them, then killed by a
unique after teleporting away. The thing with time hounds is that they
really do lots more damage than you think -- they take off hit points,
and then they take away your CON so you lose *more* hit points, and then
they take away your STR and DEX (and mana stat) so you can't hurt them.
And to add insult to injury, they lower your experience level.
Nasty critters. :-(
rune...@aol.com
In article <slrn5jamem....@phoenix.local>, wool...@kellnet.com (Greg Wooledge) writes:
>
>>Funny - I kinda like hounds. Pretty decent experience for 'em, and not
>>all that hard to handle unless you teleport into a room full of them.
>
>You're strange. :-)
I believe the proper term here is *stark, raving mad* ;-)
>>A few types are a pain, admittedly : gravity for slowing you, nexus for
>>teleporting you around and sometimes off level (lost a few artifacts
>>that way, since I play non-preserve mode), chaos for transforming those
>>nice little trolls into something nasty.
>
>Don't forget time hounds. I've lost 2 good high-level characters to
>these guys; one a long time ago, who was killed outright by them, and
>one recently who was substantially weakened by them, then killed by a
>unique after teleporting away. The thing with time hounds is that they
>really do lots more damage than you think -- they take off hit points,
>and then they take away your CON so you lose *more* hit points, and then
>they take away your STR and DEX (and mana stat) so you can't hurt them.
>And to add insult to injury, they lower your experience level.
>
>Nasty critters. :-(
I agree here. I recently ran into a pack of them in the inner room
of a round Greater Vault, and I almost got killed when they drained
my h.p. by ~half, my mana by ~1/3, and all my stats by 20 tenths.
I phased away and managed to come back and kill them without
taking another hit, but still...I don't have that problem now, since
my Gnome mage found Kelek's in an Ancient Black D's drop a
while ago ;-)
Jeremy Bowers
In article <19970323224...@ladder01.news.aol.com>, rune...@aol.com
says...
>
>I agree here. I recently ran into a pack of them in the inner room
>of a round Greater Vault, and I almost got killed when they drained
>my h.p. by ~half, my mana by ~1/3, and all my stats by 20 tenths.
>I phased away and managed to come back and kill them without
>taking another hit, but still...I don't have that problem now, since
>my Gnome mage found Kelek's in an Ancient Black D's drop a
>while ago ;-)
Thank you for making it legible.
rune...@aol.com
>>
>>I agree here. I recently ran into a pack of them in the inner room
>>of a round Greater Vault, and I almost got killed when they drained
>>my h.p. by ~half, my mana by ~1/3, and all my stats by 20 tenths.
>>I phased away and managed to come back and kill them without
>>taking another hit, but still...I don't have that problem now, since
>>my Gnome mage found Kelek's in an Ancient Black D's drop a
>>while ago ;-)
>
>Thank you for making it legible.
>
>
Your welcome. I've been seeing a lot of posts about how people
can't read AOL and Netscape posts. I assume this is because
of the way the wraparound features work. So I figured, if I'm going
to post (and if I want my own posts answered) I might as well fix
it so people can read it! It's not that much trouble, and maybe
now I'll actually get some replies when I ask for help.