Nandor Archmage Winner on Normal Difficulty

[Dr Who]

This is my archmage winner on normal difficulty. I gained ~4 levels after winning from experimenting with the orc ambushes.

Code: Select all

Sex:   Male
Race:  Nandor
Class: Archmage
Level: 44

Exp:  12%
Gold: 2001.61

Life:    1008/1008
Stamina: 421/421
Mana:    606/606

STR:  60
DEX:  35
MAG:  90
WIL:  96
CUN:  42
CON:  59

Attack(Main Hand):  87
Damage(Main Hand): 131
APR   (Main Hand):   4
Crit  (Main Hand):  10%
Speed (Main Hand): 1.00

Spellpower:  135
Spell Crit:   33%
Spell Speed:   1

Fire damage:  44%
Lightning damage:  22%

Fatigue:         22%
Armor:           35
Defense:         15
Ranged Defense:  83

Physical Resist:  36
Spell Resist:     53
Mental Resist:    41

Fire Resist:  20%
Cold Resist:  25%
Nature Resist:  20%

Number of NPC killed: 2746
Most killed NPC: uruk-hai (246)

My equipment was:

1. Staff of Destruction
   Fiery Choker (previously Choker of Dread)
   Gold Ring of Shock (+10%)
   Ring of Ulmo
   Bright Faenorian Lamp of Clear Sight
   Black Robe
   Steel Helm of Hammerhand
   Frost Treads

I had Arcane Power, Inner Power, Stone Skin, Feather Wind, and Fiery Hands activated all of the time. By the end of the game, the only thing that was a real threat were archers because Feather Wind wasn't working properly, but that is fixed now according to DG.

Most of the game was easy once I got my mage through the first dungeons which was probably due to the quicker leveling. Moria was fun even though the only spells that were effective were lightning and chain lightning. Traps seem a little off as I could basically walk over them at the beginning of the game and not lose anything, but when I stepped on an acid trap near the end, I lost a potion of speed, of healing, of mana, of grater healing, and of full mana.

I'm now testing a Nandor archer on insane difficulty.

[darkgod]

Yeah I'll definitively tone down leveling
Did you grind much ?
Done some levels multiple times ?
How did you get such high stats ?

What do you think should be done to make the experience more challenging ?


As for traps, that's normal, the destruction chance is based on damage done

[Dr Who]

Did you grind much ?

I searched through every part of each level, but as a mage I only went to the bottom then teleported out instead of fighting my way back up.

Done some levels multiple times ?

No, but the last four levels gained were from orc ambushes.

How did you get such high stats ?

Very carefully. Every time a gained a level I would take off any equipment that gave bonuses, deactivate Inner Power and increase my magic and willpower as high as possible. After this I would reequip all items and reactivate Arcane Power and Activate Inner Power again.

What do you think should be done to make the experience more challenging ?

You could sprinkle hard monsters that are somewhere in between regular monsters and bosses around the dungeon. After a while everything seemed to be all the same type of difficulty. I liked in ToME 2.x.x where I could be going through a dungeon without too much trouble and then something *hard* would show up. It kept me on my toes.

[darkgod]

I recently added a way for monsters to gain some random resistances as they levelup, so you could encounter a monster that resists your fire spelsl or whatever more randomly.

Maybe spells should do somewhat random damage maybe ?

What kind of hard monsters would be hard for you ?

[Dr Who]

I recently added a way for monsters to gain some random resistances as they levelup, so you could encounter a monster that resists your fire spelsl or whatever more randomly.

Great! That in and of itself would make attacking mundane creatures more interesting.

Maybe spells should do somewhat random damage maybe ?

They already seem to somewhat, especially the lightning spells.

What kind of hard monsters would be hard for you ?

• Something that could last for more than one to two rounds of combat with me (like the Eternal Bone Giant)
• Something with resistances (like you said you implemented)
• Something that's fast (currently everything seems to move at the same speed)
• Something that can remove ~30% of my hit points for each attack if I'm not careful

The only time I had to use phase door was in my fight against the Master, when the Orcs ambushed me after I found the staff, and one time in Moria when I didn't pay attention to my health and decided to take on a couple groups of enemies at once. I would love to see more good reasons to use phase door and teleport to save me from situations where I can't take on everything that I see, or where I'm in a bad position in which a high level monster could kill me in a few turns. Basically, I want a reason to be cautious at times other than when I'm about to fight a hard unique at the bottom of a dungeon.

[madmonk]

Well done, awesome stats!

Seems to be fairly standard to grab the Armour School so the Mage can wear the Helm of Hammerhand. Also in pumping Spell Power.

[Gwai]

I think the mage class would be WAAAAAAY harder without being able to grab the armor class. Between hammerhand and health ...

[darkgod]

Well I made Health talent CON requirement much higher, it goes in steps of 9 now.
But yes I see your point, ideas ?

[syllogism01]

As much as it pains me to say this, you should cap Inner Power stat bonuses at something reasonable and/or increase mana cost.

[PowerWyrm]

Mages will become much harder once the shop bug is fixed... no more guaranteed 3 artifacts at level 1 to make half of the game a joke

[Gwai]

Geez, I'm beginning to feel everyone's abusing that bug. I think I may have to stop trying to be honorable and avoiding it. Think I have to see if I'm right and I could get over that last hump if money were infinite.

[Dr Who]

Well I made Health talent CON requirement much higher, it goes in steps of 9 now.

That may seem somewhat harsh for other classes (like the rogue), perhaps steps of 6 or 7 would not be as bad? In addition, my mage would still have had all of the health advancements by the end, so I just see it postponing the inevitable (but the mid game would be harder). Perhaps mages health increase could follow an exponential decay. For example, on level up, new_health=old_health+normally_added_health*exp(-level/some_constant). This could cause them to have reasonable health at the beginning without having having as much as warrior types at the end.

As much as it pains me to say this, you should cap Inner Power stat bonuses at something reasonable and/or increase mana cost.

Also, you could consider not having arcane power affect it. Those two powers really affected each other.

I'm beginning to feel everyone's abusing that bug.

If it makes you feel any better, I'm not abusing that at all with my new Anorithil. Although, since my mages carrying capacity is 279 and since ego mithril weapons are now common, I can gain a lot of gold very quickly.

[Gwai]

Well, once I've unlock the Anorithil, that'll make me feel better!