Help with understanding hate/curses?

[NOWAZORZ]

I'm not very good at ToME, but I managed to get the transmogrificatorinator (or whatever it really is) chest, and I am currently running a dwarven cursed, and I don't understand a few things:

1) Hate, and how it works. I have general understanding of this, but only rudimentary.

2) Curses. I have no clue how these work, as this is my first cursed character.

I use auto-explore, so the chest automatically grabs items, and the they don't get cursed, but there was one item (a waraxe of defense, I think) that I had to pick up, and it brought up a little box saying something along the lines of "Would you like to curse this?" and I can't get that box to come up again. Like I said, I dunno how they work, because I suck at this game.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[jilladilla]

Hate is a resource that slowly drains over time, it is replenised mainly by killing things, but you do get some by being hit, hard (don't know exact numbers sorry), you also seem to get a lot more as you're about to die. Bosses give you a large amount of hate the first time they enter your gloom.

Hate influences your heal modifier, 50% heals at 0 hate, 100% at 100 hate and above. It also influences the potency of some talents.

Curses are a tree, you get to choose whether you want it (and -2 willpower) or not when you pick up your first weapon. This is a one time offer, and it is irreversable (note that there is another way to get this tree, although if you run into that, it isn't a choice)

The curses tree is simple, the 1st talent allows you to curse more stuff (note that curses are completely BAD unless you have the 2nd talent)

The 2nd talent allows you to get bonuses from curses, I personally keep the first talent 1 point higher than the 2nd.

The 3rd and 4th talents have nothing to do with your cursed gear and I don't remember them off the top of my head



Oh and btw, the Rampage tree is pretty good (I did have a short run with it, but i tend to suck with Cursed)

[Dervic]

1) Hate is the cursed class resource... You gain hate by:
a - Killing enemies
b - Taking damage
c - Some items and skills help with hate generation.
The main problem with hate is that it slowly declines and you don't have any good way of charging up in antecipation of a fight.

2) Curses are a generic talent tree which sadly isn't that good at the moment. There's a second chance at unlocking that talent tree later on if you want it but I'd recommend skipping curses altogether unless you just want something to drop generics in.

[Planetus]

Curses is a generic talent tree that the cursed and doomed used to start with automatically. Now, instead, they are given a choice when they first pick up a weapon (usable for that class? any weapon? not sure). They can release their curse on the object, gaining the Curses tree, or they can suppress their curse, and not gain the tree. This choice is permanent and one-time-only, though there is another chance to get the tree through another mechanic much later on.

I disagree with the Curses talent tree, though. I love it. The first talent will automatically place a random curse on weapons, armor, helmets, shields, belts, or cloaks (it starts with only weapons, but higher talent points place them on other item types). The second talent is the critical one. It lets you gain benefits from the curses, depending on the number of cursed items with the same curse you have equipped. You see, each curse gives you a (rather small) penalty, but it can also give you up to 4 levels of bonuses, with the last ones usually being pretty powerful. Some of the in between bonuses can be pretty nice, too. The third talent lets you curse the ground around you, reducing the damage any enemies on cursed ground will deal to you, and the fourth lets you animate a weapon for a certain number of turns, summoning it as a 'nearly indestructible' ally until time runs out and the weapon is destroyed. I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know how powerful they really are, but it sounds nice.

Anyway, my Yeek lich stacked Curse of Corpses for the 4th bonus, automatically animating the corpses of humanoids I kill. They aren't as powerful as my summoned undead, and they decay after a while, but they're free and add to my undead hoard. I love it.

[Sirrocco]

So... I'd kind of like to experiment with the hate/curses tree, but I usually can't bring myself to spend the generics. Anyone have any good ideas for classes that have more generics than they need, but also aren't strongly inclined to go antimagic?

[phantomglider]

Archers, rogues, brawlers, bulwarks. If you don't get an Anorithil escort, alchemists, reavers, and corruptors as well.

[Planetus]

If I remember correctly, Temporal Wardens have almost no generic skills, with almost all of their skills being class skills. Of course, getting an Anorthil escort could distract a number of your generics, at least 11 or so.

Still, considering that most of the higher-level curse bonuses that I've seen are things that automatically scale with you (Curse of Corpses lvl 4 scales with either your level or the target's level, not sure which; Curse of Misfortune 4 has a chance to deal an extra 30?% damage if that's enough to kill the target, which scales with how much damage you do, etc), it's ok to keep the investment in Curses gradual, not reaching the peaks until later levels. That'll give you more time to accumulate cursed equipment of a single curse or two, while still letting you enjoy the benefits as you go.