Long time Angabnd player, first time ToME

[dhegler]

The Maggot quest requires you to use two commands: "Y" to chat and "y" to give something. The same holds true of the lost hobbit quest.

There are several dungeons that you can try after the BD. The next in line is Mirkwood, which is east of the mountains. If you decide to go there make sure you have a stack of 20 Satisfy Hunger scrolls and use the overhead map. Stay off of deep water squares!

Closer to Bree are the Old Forest (NW) and the Orc Cave (north). The Orc Cave has a special level with guaranteed rewards that are great for warriors. Both have a chance of market towns, which can be a source of very useful items if you have the money.

The maze is also not far away, but I would not recommend going there yet. You may see other dungeons, I would not go into any of them either at this point. The help menu lists all the dungeons and their levels.

You can also go looking for the other towns: Gondolin, Lorien, and Minas Anor. Gondolin is NE; the other two are where you would expect. You can get food and other supplies in these, and it is useful to learn where they are.

If you have gotten a quest from your god there is a lost temple quest at a random site somewhere- the quest message tells you the basic direction.

You might load up with a stack of SH scrolls and just go for a stroll in the wilderness to learn where everything is. If you stay off the deep water and ice squares you won't have any trouble. Except for the god quests everything is fixed, so once you learn it it will always be the same.

Use of skill points is the most important tactical decision you will make. You cannot max everything (or even come close) so there will be tradeoffs. I think that the help menu describes the flow-through points that you get in higher level skills from lower level ones- this is a pretty small effect. Note that the lost sword quests can give you access to new skills, so sometimes you will want to hoard points until you get something cool (Mimicry, for example, is incredibly useful for a warrior at high levels).

This is all GREAT info. I did see where people wanted to give me skill points for things I did not see in my skills menu... Does that mean that if they offer it to me, it opens up a new skill that I can add points to. I did read about mimicry, which also seems unfair to a warrior. I am also clueless as to how a warrior can cast spells - doesn't make sense to me, but sounds like I can do it somehow. I need to figure out how to attach rod tips first. I think I figured it out, but we'll see...

Are there any "suggested" skill values for a warrior class somewhere? I assume max out the combat and have enough magic-device to use rods and staves efficiently, and max out prayer so I can some spell that happens when I whack monsters each round...

[Shoob]

what warrior class type are you playing?

if just a straight warrior, I would recommend specializing in one specific area (such as swordmastery, as there are powerful swords) then focus on weaponmastery after you up the subcategory as much as possible, then up combat after that (unless you want to go archery as well, but that isnt needed really unless you want to, though it probably would be more effective than rods damage wise)

then I would invest in magic device or prayer depending on which god I chose to follow... it looks like you chose melkor, so I would up it to lvl 50 prayer. you dont really need to worry about being in the negatives with piety early on as you gain a lot later on.

then I would have magic device up to 20 or so...

I often pump mindcraft (a skill you can get in game if lucky) up to 45 or so if I dont follow melkor, otherwise I pump it up to as much as I can and ignore magic device.

[Yottle]

I suggest taking a look at the dumps of some recent winners on the ladder over at angband.oook.cz. At least you will get some idea of what other people have had success with.

Warriors generally don't go with spells much. They have to invest too many points into their specialty mastery, weaponmastery, and combat to get much out of any spell school. One strategy is to put a few points into several schools so that you get the low-level utility spells, like detect traps and monsters, Ent's Potion, Phase Door, and so on. You will have to look at the help menu to decide how many points to put into each school that you have access to.

Another strategy is to put everything into Antimagic. That means that you can't use any magical items or cast spells and you lose your god, but it stops spellcasters from damaging you.

Stealth is helpful for some characters, but a warrior really doesn't need it much.

I wouldn't put more than 15 points or so into Magic Device. It makes relying on rods for detection and disarming less frustrating. However, you never want to rely on magic devices in combat at deep levels- they are too unreliable.

Mindcraft is a good place to put points (once you get access to it through the quests). There are lots of useful utility spells that warriors can use.

If you are worshiping Tulkas or Melkor it is useful to put points into prayer. Spirituality helps your saving throw, which is important later on.

Level 35 Mimicry gets you three extra equipment slots: weapon, shield, and gloves. You need to get this from quests.

Summoning and Symbiosis are not much use at low levels, but when coupled with points in Monster-lore you can get a horde of pets to follow you around and do your fighting for you. You get this from quests also.

If you get a lost sword quest, never accept Fumblefingers' offer to join you. Take the skill boost he offers. He can boost your increment up to 0.5.

Take a look at the skills spoiler page at killerbunnies for more info. The link is on the main Tome page.

(I agree with everything Shoob says- we are posting at the same time.)

[dhegler]

Wow, great advice. I think I have magic device at 20-22 already and my combat/weapon skills maxed. I'll concentrate on Prayer now and hope I get Mimicry and Mindcraft skills from the FF quests. I think I had a chance to get Mindcraft already, but I chose a combat skill instead. Oh well.

I am already doing 300+ damage per turn to lightning suceptible and 250+ to monsters that don't resist it. Orc caves were a breeze - waiting to play lvl 21 until I have time to clean it out.

I'll have to check the skills spoiler... I am totally confused on the magic system(s) so far, which is why I chose Zombie RohanKnight Swordmaster (as someone suggested). The speed is awesome and I just got "spread blows", which I think making fighting hordes easier (fractional blows I guess?)

[Shoob]

spread blows means that if you have unused blows after attacking a monster you can still use them if there is another monster nearby.

if you look at the character screen 'C' you will see how many blows you get... it is dependant on str, dex, the weight of the weapon, and certain magical items. also there are abilities that let you attack more.

[Derakon]

A quick note on the special level in the Orc Caves: the items in it are hidden behind diggable walls. There are three guaranteed artifacts you can find this way, but it's easy to miss them if you don't know that they're there. This is also the only way to get them -- they won't be generated in normal gameplay. The same goes for artifacts in other special levels, which includes a useful cloak and one of the Rings of Power; be sure to explore special levels carefully!

[Yottle]

A quick note on the special level in the Orc Caves: the items in it are hidden behind diggable walls. There are three guaranteed artifacts you can find this way, but it's easy to miss them if you don't know that they're there. This is also the only way to get them -- they won't be generated in normal gameplay. The same goes for artifacts in other special levels, which includes a useful cloak and one of the Rings of Power; be sure to explore special levels carefully!

They are actually behind hidden doors.

[joetraff]

I think I have magic device at 20-22 already and my combat/weapon skills maxed

That sounds good.With this you can easily beat the Orcs.