1.03 OSX Going Rogue + Permadeath * Promethean Magic: completed * Psionics: up to Crystal Healing (3) * Blood Magic: completed * Magic Training: completed * Unarmed Combat: up to Throwing Buffalo Technique (2) * Perception: completed * Burglary: completed Final score: ~500k Final character level: 20? (forget, something like that) Conducts: * I didn't bother to drink from any fountains; not enough return for the risk. * I messed with Anvils of Krong with some spare items a few times, if I had an item on-hand, but never got anything worthwhile out of it. Probably the last time I'll bother with them until/unless they get tweaked. * Didn't find a Horadric Lutefisk Cube until dungeon level 5. Trashed most everything I found on that level, and some of 6, and got a couple of items, but neither was any good, especially for the hassle of clicking-and-dropping everything into the damnable cube. Probably last time I'll bother with lutefisk tithing. I wasn't taking notes so don't remember the exact order I picked up skills. I took Psionics for Crystal Healing but didn't pick that up until after character level 10, I think. I grabbed Buffalo by CL 4 or 5 and used that the whole game as basic attack + defense (wish the knockback was more reliable!). It was awhile before I grabbed Obvious Fireball (due to tight mana), and I relied on Explosive Rune until probably dungeon level 4. Used the wyvern as well for a little while as well, but not past DL 3, I think. I remember using a Tentacular Wand quite a bit at one point, probably on DL 2 or 3, and used Coral Wands several times. Never bothered with fungus or most potions (although Potions of Replenishment saved me a few times). Speaking of tentacles: used two Bolts of Squid to take out an early monster zoo. I love those bolts~ Nightmares for everyone! Blood Magic is a really obvious choice. One thing I noticed this time is that it didn't fire all the time I expected it to. It looks like there's a maximum range of some kind on it? I really like the idea of Psionics but it's of situational use. Crystal Healing, obviously, can be a lifesaver, and was for me more than once. Being able to sleep an enemy is pretty good, and you get ranged item push to collect things off of islands and (inartfully) move dungeon furniture around (can't rely on it to push enemies, though). I've used Nerve Staple before and I really like it but didn't grab it this time because I just didn't need it. However, there's no good reason to grab Pyrokinesis, which is too weak and is single-target (and especially weak compared to all my Promethean Magic fires), and there's no good reason to grab Unconditional Love because your monster will eventually break control, and that's not something you want to happen in the middle of a fight; too risky. I like taking Burglary for the trap affinity (and lockpicks don't hurt either). You can make a tonne of early XP just by picking up traps, and then you're less likely to step on the damn things later yourself. I kept some trap-defusing equipment on me, as well, to swap over when I found a trap that was 1 or 2 points above my level. It's also probably the best save-your-butt skill line: Ninja Vanish saved me MANY, MANY times (open door, vanish, back off, fireball), and without me having to keep track of Potions of Invisibility or Inky Hoglanterns. Took Moves In Mysterious Ways pretty late but did use it a couple of times. Never bothered to steal anything; after I got Ninja Vanish I ignored it for awhile and only finished it off for the achievement. Perception is really great for Promethean Magic. Lets you see to the edge of the screen to lob those Fireballs and Runes, cause the maximum amount of area damage. Also grants a point or two of trap affinity, which is always good. After Trap Sense I ignored it for a LONG while and only finished it off sometime on Pandemonium for the achievement. I took Unarmed Combat because I'd tried a couple of runs with a similar build but with Staff Combat, and.. mostly, I just never wanted to be in melee range if I could help it. So I took Unarmed as a kind of "backup" combat, and then wielded two orbs as soon as I could (and used orb/shield mix in the meantime). I actually really like the visual of this wizard guy, wandering around, big special effects-y magic spheres swirling about him and/or his arms, bootin' stuff in the head. Badassery~ I fully explored every level up through DL 6. Explored less than half of 7, realized at that point I pretty much had all the skills and equipment I needed, and proceeded to just take the first stairs down I found. Explored probably 1/5th of 8, and even less than that of 9 (this happened on my last run as well, on Dwarven Moderation). I wound up exploring ALL of Pandemonium before I came across Dredmor; he was in the very last room I hadn't explored. -.- By the end, I think Obvious Fireball was at 9 MP per cast, Crystal Healing was at 3 MP, and.. that's pretty much all I used. Dropped a Thaumite Trap sometimes on Pandemonium because the fireball wasn't one-hitting things anymore and I figured I might as well use 'em up (had well over 100 traps of various kinds). As at the beginning of the game, at the end - since I was a bit underleveled - Promethean Magic becomes a damage-over-time line; you do your initial cast to get some HP down, and then rely on THE BURNING, OH GODS, THE BURNING to finish off enemies. Lots of casting and then walking away as they shamble, screaming in agony, towards you, before collapsing in a pile of ash and scorched, melted fat, the stench sinking into the surrounding stones and-- Sorry, forgot what we were talking about. TO BE CONTINUED in just a second because apparently there's a character limit on posts and I have written some ridiculous amount already?!
AND NOW THE CONCLUSION Mana was tough off and on, especially early and even with a maxed Blood Magic; Obvious Fireball costs a lot of mana and it's only cost effective to use it if there's at least 2-3 enemies you can take out at once for the Blood Magic return. But it's often the only worthwhile thing: Dragon's Breath is too weak past Dungeon Level 1, the enemies have to step on the Explosive Rune for that to work and that's not always an option, and the wyvern has AI issues (and it sets off traps, even though it should be flying). There were.. two or three times I got as low as 2 HP (once due to an acid trap; thankfully I had a Zodiac Wand). Early on there were lots of times I was totally out of both food and drink (when I started running low on food it finally kicked my butt to pick up Crystal Healing, and I didn't have to worry about THAT anymore) and I recall blowing all the cash I had at drink vendors more than once. Mostly that's a Going Rogue thing, I think, what with the reduced item drops. Never had a problem with golems. They seem particularly vulnerable to being explodey-fired. Overall, I think this is a pretty good build hampered by my lack-of-skill and some poor item luck, and I probably could've chosen a better skills order. The reason it does so well - especially deeper in - is that the game throws groups of enemies at you relentlessly. Explosive Rune and Obvious Fireball, when powered by a completed Blood Magic, will pay for themselves and then some. You rarely find single enemies except as respawns, and in fact those respawns often caused me the most trouble; I had to throw a spell to clear them out, but I wouldn't get all my mana back. And then around the corner another one would come. And then another, after that one was dead. Like bein' hunted down by frickin' zombies, man. Favourite thing this game: found out that when you have more damage bonuses than there's room for, the devs decided to just attach an extra piece of paper: http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/9569/charsheetexpanded.png If I were to do the build again: 1) Grab Throwing Buffalo Technique as the very first skill choice. Invaluable. 2) Probably ditch Magic Training and take Alchemy, instead. It was awhile before I leveled it up and I'm not sure I really noticed enough of a discount in MP or boost in spell power to make it worth it. Being able to make my own - and better - booze would've been more useful for most of the game. Another choice would be Fungal Arts for easy supplies of Night Caps and Odious Puffballs. 3) Wyvern's a pretty strong pet and I'm glad I picked it as a stopgap until Obvious Fireball.. but after Obvious Fireball, you never use the wyvern again. In fact, you don't need anything AFTER Obvious Fireball, either.
Another bonus for alchemy is that you have a better chance of making the high-end orbs (they use a cracked orb, a gem and a potion), which helps you with mana regen and some magic power in the early and mid game. No recipe for orb of nothingness... and the only time I ever saw one was when I was a warrior in a shop.
The reason Blood Mage doesn't activate all the time is because you're using Promethean Magic. If a monster dies to burning instead of the direct blast, you will not gain any mana for it.
Glad you won! Now then, where did you find the Amulet of Yendor? I have to say, what's wrong with I won the game as a title. Or Yet another Victory Post? Which is used for both Angband and it's variants, and ADOM, and every game but Nethack. Another Ascension makes me wonder if I was looking at the Rec.games.roguelike.nethack usenet group instead of the Gaslamp forums. I miss SLASH'EM though.
Meh, Promethean is afk-able to win the game, as long as you have the mana regen necessary. I got quite bored by the time I hit floor 10. Had Mathmagics as well, so had unlimited money. Since I beat the game with it I haven't used it at all, trivializes the game too much for my taste. My setup was Blood Magic, Magic Training, Ley Lines, Promethean Magic, Mathmagics, Burglary, Fleshsmithing (Useless skill for magic users imho, never really used it).
DavidB1111: because Promethean builds seem to be one of the easiest ways to win right now, so while it was pretty nice to finish, I don't feel particularly accomplished just yet. I still wanted to write up a long post in case it was helpful to devs at all; I've seen some short "here's my build, here's paragraph of notes" posts but nothing more in-depth.
Ah, cool. But why write ascension post? This isn't Nethack, and I don't know why Nethack seems so popular here. Angband has updated much more often, and is much much more fun.
Because most roguelike players do this. You win the game, you post your stats and tell a story. It's not anything specific to nethack.
No, no, you don't understand. He called this another promethean ascension. Only Nethack players use Ascension in their title. This is a victory post. He should have called this post "Another Promethean victory/win" I've seen nearly 500 Victory posts in the last 13 years, and only the Nethack ones have Ascension in their title. Ascension doesn't really make sense, in this game, there's no Amulet of Yendor after all. You don't fight the four Horseman of the Apocalypse, nor can you tame them as pets. This isn't Nethack, so the title having Ascension in it threw me off. Though, we do have Deth. I'm sorry for the confusion. I have Asperger's Syndrome, which is a form of Autism, and certain little things bother me. I apologize for any rudeness you may think I show.
