ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Seriously. They move fast, are hard to hit, have more hp then most critters there (Black Mambas have as much as most bears) and deal the most damage (10-15, and the fact that they can attack twice occasionally). A major threat to any close combat character, and having to deal with them is one reason I don't like melee characters - most of those I play die to snakes 3-4 times before I can actually get going. And, the fact that they seem to resist stuns, if you manage to hit them in the first place (I got a den of snakes to run through a hall with a sliding stone trap. 1/3 or 4 resisted the stun). My only option with melee characters is usually hightail it to the nearest stairs

Is this intentional? I never expected a bear to be easier to defeat than a snake.

I suppose it would be proper to level up some before going there (I get level 2 at least for another point in weapon combat) but the fact that ranged characters don't need to do this makes the early game much more difficult for melee characters.

I suppose nothing really needs to be changed, I'm just venting after losing another close combat character to a snake. >.>

Playing a skeleton or dunadan helps out quite a bit since one makes poison deaths impossible and the other can cut way down on them.

Snakes move somewhat erratically so the speed is there to make up for that. But yeah, you can't stun kite them very easily because of that and they seem to have a pretty high defense.

That said I generally wait till level 4 before hitting OF with melee.

Well OF is not supposed to be s starting zone either