A few of my (least) favorite things

[feathin]

Edit: wait a minute, why did you resurrect this old thread? Bah, should have looked at the dates before responding.

He probably resurrected it because as the Forum Etiquette sticky states, we encourage using old threads rather than beginning a new thread on the same topic.

[Darklight]

At low levels, anything that multiplies, particularly things that multiply and poison you.

I agree about this. Although in older *bands, that was MUCH worse. A less-than-third level character in some of those old ones even seeing a Giant White Louse or failing to kill the first five or ten White Worm Masses should *run-not-walk* for the nearest exit and slam doors the whole way, they could almost fill the freaking thing.... seems the max_multiply (or whatever) has thankfully been toned down.

[feathin]

Hahah, you should have seen the uproar here initially when flying over trees was implemented, and various breeders were given the flying flag. They didn't turn out to be as deadly as everyone was thinking they were going to be, though I certainly have left plenty of levels in the Barrow Downs and Mirkwood thanks to infestations. I always forget about Sterilize though, even when I'm a sorc.

[Atarlost]

Sterilize doesn't help much. By the time you know you need to cast it it's usually too late.

[Hypnos]

hummerhorns, blue icky things, RNG's, any other breeder that hits to confuse, how many characters are going to have resist confusion at 500'? several of these are also +10 speed, drink a CCW and get confused again.

any of the hounds that breathe something that can stun, which is actually quite a few, I can think of at least 5 types without looking it up.

any monster that can cast manastorm.

[Lord Estraven]

For things that confuse it's good to have a distance attack. A sling, a bow, a wand of Noxious Cloud, etc. - you have to get them before they can touch you. Also, remember the Tactics stuff, you can give yourself a speed boost at the expense of stealth.

any of the hounds that breathe something that can stun, which is actually quite a few, I can think of at least 5 types without looking it up.

Plasma, water, vibration, and force (by slamming you into walls), IIRC. Inertia and gravity might also be able to do it, not sure about those. Oh, and Aether, but fortunately they're not as common as the others.

[Euphemism]

Recently I've been getting into trouble with confuse. My first sorceror almost died at the hand of blue icky things - but luckily she was able to hide around a bend (and IIRC they inflicted blindness more than they inflicted confuse, so that helped). Otherwise, it's been dark elven mages and a pack of novice mindcrafters (confused->blinded->confused->dead). I keep on making the mistake of trying to walk when I get confused, when the right answer is to stop moving once you've reached the best position (i.e. one where you are in LOS of the least number of monsters). Also, sometimes it comes down to luck. Got a Princess Quest for the dark elven mages, and I got confused as soon as I picked (the second) door. Obviously I should have killed the princess and the other mages from the other side (which I had cleared previously) with globe of light - it works! Silly princess, she seems to have 1 hp...

What anti-confuse options are available at lower levels? Besides mushroom of cure confusion, what can be used while confused to get a good distance away?

[Blackdog]

What anti-confuse options are available at lower levels? Besides mushroom of cure confusion, what can be used while confused to get a good distance away?

Potions! Cure serious/critical wounds will remove both blindness and confusion. Potions of heroism will also make you temporarily immune to fear.

[feathin]

Potions frequently don't work when you're fighting pack monsters like novice mindcrafters or a princess pack. I don't know as there's anything that works, other than confusion resistance. You can't read, activate, cast, zap, or use an ability, so that leaves you with basically nothing. So the best possibility, once you find yourself in a repeatedly confusing situation, is to cross your fingers and start quaffing your CCW until you get a turn free to read your scroll of teleport, or cross your fingers and start confusedly wandering around hoping that you kill everything or get to some stairs or an out-of-LOS spot.

[Euphemism]

Ah, thanks. I'll remember to bring some for next time...
Rhywynn died... again. This time she took a peek at the Gondolin house quest and got creamed. I can't remember if there was a set of stairs where I appeared - it doesn't matter much, anyway... I teleported away (but it's a small level anyway, so that didn't help at all). Saw some stairs nearby and headed straight for them. Wham, confusion {lost three turns to that}. Ate a mushroom. Slipped on ice. Was about two steps away when I died. *sigh* So close. Damnit, I just realised I forgot to bring my book of stone prison! I'll know for next time -_- stupid quest...

[Lord Estraven]

My latest: Angband's prolific leveled Blink Dogs. They can't touch me, but they can buffet me all over the place, and ruin attempts to control battles using teleportation, and they have enough HP and move fast enough that wielding the Anchor and wading through them isn't always feasible.

[Shoob]

bone golems are narsty

[Lord Estraven]

They're not that bad. Nightwalkers, on the other hand, are very annoying. Especially when you have five of them blocking your progress and Sauron and Kronos bombarding you from behind.

[Gwai]

Last time I killed Sauron it was on Mt. Doom. I was pretty unfond of all the company we had.

[Lord Estraven]

The walking is worse than the fighting, but the fighting is bad enough. Mount Doom really makes Morgoth look like a cakewalk.