I'm getting back into the game after quite an absence, so forgive me if this is common knowledge that I've just missed. I'm playing un-modded. I got an instability effect on a sword called something like "Evil Lich-ness" or some such. Now I've got... 7 stacks of Haematic drain. Is it coming from the weapon instability? If so, is it the same variety that can only be cured by using a phylactery? I'll be blunt here. If 3 fights with one slightly unstable weapon can permanently cripple a character, that's pretty high on the cheap BS-o-meter. Seriously.
Yes. Yes it is. Haematic Drain is pretty much the worst of the possible Instabilities (by a huge amount), and the only way you can get rid of it is by being an actual blood mage and creating an actual Phylactery and drinking it. It's pretty ridiculous, but they wanted instability to be something that wasn't lightly trifled with.
How would you fix it as a blood mage if every phylactery conjured still adds 1 to the stack, but consuming one only removes one stack? Or has that changed too?
I am pretty sure they changed that intentionally. And i believe it is the same buff. Currently the only way that I am aware of to solve this is to stop using the weapon (duh) and to have the paranormal investigator skill tree with Xenochemistry. Then you have to transmute potions (ALOT) to very rarely get phylacteries... But your time is probably better spent rerolling.
I don't recall it ever removing all stacks. I think it was discussed once but dropped as that would be a free ride to just sit in a corner and make phylacteries til you were almost dead, then clear the whole debuff stack and get free superhealth pots. Either way, the character doesn't have xenochem, so she was basically dead anyway. Nice waste of several hours as punishment for abuses I never took part in. Deleted.
There are two ways to get rid of the effect of this instability. The first one is to find a Haematic Phylactery in a wizardland (because they spawn here, and aren't even all that rare), and the second one is to have that one potion-transfiguring skill and use it until you get Haematic Phylacteries. Either way, it's possible to get out of it. And Essence, it only removes one stack. That was sort of a gaffe, coming from you (so get some sleep). I'll be blunt here. As soon as you see something is appearing that should not, you run away and check what could cause it; trying to wait it out instead of teleporting out of there and checking your equipment, and then saying that it's "BS", is a "BS" in itself, really. But maybe it's just my paranoia and cautiousness when dealing with negative status effects in games.
Most of the instabilities are mediocre as long as they aren't happening frequently. Worst: Foul Lich Magic (your item is dead and you need to drop it immediately) Vile Poison Exploder Tentacles Twitchiness (froda's discontinuity) those are the ones you want to avoid the most. especially if your instability is more than "slightly".
That was my point. When you see it, it's already permanently attached to the character. I got that many stacks from being careless, and I fully accept that. But, it's not something I could *do* anything about. I'd expect it from other roguelikes, but it sticks out here as exceptionally harsh compared to the other effects. Less condescension would also be appreciated. Thanks.
I just wish it was more clear what the instabilities were on the item as soon as you get them instead of having to discover it in combat. Sorry about your loss darkmere. Lately I have only been playing NTTG, as this game takes hours just to go through a few floors.
There was no condescension here, really. I've just been sick for the entire previous week (and still am) and thus might sound a bit harsher than usually (sorry about that). And what I meant was, as soon as you see this debuff appearing at all, drop what you are doing, teleport away, and check your inventory to see what is causing the problem, and unequip that item. Haematic Phylacteries are quite easy to find in the wizardlands if you need just a few of them and you can use them to remove the debuff, so for as long as you react in time instead of being careless (and thus you need just one or two instead of a lot of them), you should be able to get out of it. Yes, the debuff is a rather harsh penalty, that I agree with. Yes, it might make players think everything is lost, that I also agree with. But with enough patience and some wizardland codes (and it's a solution everyone can use), or alternatively slightly more patience and access to a certain potion-randomising skill (though it requires having a certain skill tree in your build), it is possible to get out of this one.
No worries. I'm kinda over it now, moved on to a new character and all that. I was chuffed when I posted because this is the first time in a long time I've felt like I lost a character to something beyond my control in this game. Lack of paying attention is certainly #1 on my tombstone list, and this issue won't happen again. I just don't like the idea that there's no way to know what would happen until it had happened, and with that instability it's permanent. Forewarned is forearmed for next time, yes?
It's close second in my case, with the first one being my own code exploding on my characters and killing them horribly. And I say that "it won't happen again" every time, only to do something stupid the very next playthrough. Oh well, I guess that's normal. Sort of. As I said before, if you manage to catch this crud, you can always scour the wizardlands in search of Haematic Phylacteries - unless you've already gotten through all of them, there's still a chance to get a nice surprise. But yeah, the best way is to simply check item descriptions every time you encrust anything.
