YACD my first mage (but not getting the full mage experience)

[will_asher]

I thought I'd try a different class just for a change, one pretty different from the one I had been playing (paladin). At the same time, I didn't want the usual kind of mage which has pathetic HPS and melee so I picked a half-orc mage. Because of that, and also because Farmer Maggot dropped a nice long sword of venom, I'm not really getting the mage experience, but I don't really care. I'll try a gnome mage some other time. I'm meleeing more than any mage probably ever should, but with my weapon and being half-orc I can probably melee better than any mage (of my level) ever should be able to.

My first goal was to get to clvl 11 as fast as possible to get the identify spell because mages have basically no pseudo-ID. Once I got the identify spell I was quite happy with how I was doing, though I'm not yet to the point where I usually die with my kobold paladins. I'm learning spells a lot slower than most mages, but because I don't need the attack spells as much, I could focus on utility spells. Stone to mud and satisfy hunger make me not have to carry around a shovel or food, so it frees up carrying strength, and this nice lightweight robe of elvenkind helps to. (not that I need to carry a shovel anyway, but I have a habit of doing that until I have lots of gold). I may have more strength than most mages, but I haven't started with less than 17 strength with any character for a long time.

BTW, don't ask my why I'm keeping a big stack of pebbles at home because I have no idea. I think I'm going to use them to pave my driveway.

[Angband 3.0.9 Character Dump]

Name Razab Self RB CB EB Best
Sex Male Age 15 STR: 17 +2 -5 +0 14
Race Half-Orc Height 66 INT: 14 -1 +3 +0 16
Class Mage Weight 149 WIS: 10 +0 +0 +0 10
Title Trickster Status 21 DEX: 14 +0 +1 +0 15
HP 86/86 Maximize Y Con: 15 +1 -2 +0 14 12
SP 19/19 CHR: 11 -4 +1 +0 8

Level 14 Armor [9,+3] Saving Throw Very Good
Cur Exp 1704 Fight (+0,+0) Stealth Fair
Max Exp 1704 Melee (+7,+7) Fighting Good
Adv Exp 1960 Shoot (+10,+14) Shooting Fair
MaxDepth Lev 8 Blows 1/turn Disarming Fair
Turns 1173425 Shots 1/turn Magic Device Excellent
Gold 4652 Infra 30 ft Perception Fair
Burden 75.4 lbs Speed Normal Searching Poor

Your father was an Orc, but it is unacknowledged. You are the adopted
child of a Townsman. You are a credit to the family. You have dark
brown eyes, straight red hair, and an average complexion.


abcdefghijkl@ abcdefghijkl@
Acid:......+...... Blind:.............
Elec:......+...... Confu:.............
Fire:......+...... Sound:.............
Cold:......+...... Shard:.............
Pois:............. Nexus:.............
Fear:............. Nethr:.............
Lite:............. Chaos:.............
Dark:............+ Disen:.............

abcdefghijkl@ abcdefghijkl@
S.Dig:............. Stea.:......+......
Feath:............. Sear.:.............
PLite:............. Infra:.............
Regen:............. Tunn.:.............
Telep:............. Speed:.............
Invis:............. Blows:.............
FrAct:............. Shots:.............
HLife:............. Might:.+...........


[Character Equipment]

a) a Long Sword of Venom (2d5) (+7,+7) {@w0 Farmer Maggot L0}
It is branded with poison.
b) a Sling of Extra Might (x2) (+10,+14) (+1)
It increases your shooting power by 1.
c) (nothing)
d) (nothing)
e) (nothing)
f) a Lantern (13266 turns) {@w4}
It usually provides light of radius 2. It cannot be harmed by fire.

g) a Robe of Elvenkind [2,+4] (+1 to stealth)
It increases your stealth by 1. It provides resistance to acid,
lightning, fire, and cold. It cannot be harmed by the elements. It
might have hidden powers.
h) a Cloak [1,+0]
i) (nothing)
j) a Metal Cap [3,-1]
k) (nothing)
l) a Pair of Hard Leather Boots [3,-1]

[edit: I just now noticed my boots are damaged, I think I'll be replacing those when I load the game.]

[Character Inventory]

a) 2 Books of Magic Spells [Magic for Beginners]
b) a Book of Magic Spells [Conjurings and Tricks]
c) a Book of Magic Spells [Incantations and Illusions]
d) a Ration of Food
e) a Piece of Elvish Waybread
f) 3 Flasks of oil
g) 2 Dark Green Potions of Speed
h) 3 Brown Potions of Heroism
i) a Dark Blue Potion of Berserk Strength
j) 2 Cyan Potions of Cure Serious Wounds
k) 5 Metallic Purple Potions of Cure Critical Wounds
l) 5 Scrolls titled "ter lisma vo" of Phase Door {@r1=g}
m) 4 Scrolls titled "utilio ammitas" of Word of Recall {@r3=g}
n) 2 Scrolls titled "fabus vo edo" of Identify {@r2=g}
o) a Chromium Rod of Trap Location {@z3}
p) a Silver Wand of Light
q) 31 Rounded Pebbles (1d2) {@f1=g +0 +0}
r) 12 Iron Shots (1d4) (+0,+0) {@f2=g}


[Home Inventory]

a) a Book of Magic Spells [Magic for Beginners]
b) 4 Flasks of oil
c) 7 Brown Potions of Heroism
d) 23 Arrows (1d4) (+6,+5)
e) 80 Rounded Pebbles (1d2) {@f1=g +0 +0}
f) 10 Iron Shots (1d4) (+0,+0)


[Options]

Adult: Maximize effect of race/class bonuses : yes (adult_maximize)
Adult: Randomize some of the artifacts (beta): no (adult_randarts)
Adult: Auto-scum for good levels : yes (adult_autoscum)
Adult: Restrict the use of stairs/recall : no (adult_ironman)
Adult: Restrict the use of stores/home : no (adult_no_stores)
Adult: Restrict creation of artifacts : no (adult_no_artifacts)
Adult: Don't stack objects on the floor : no (adult_no_stacking)
Adult: Preserve artifacts when leaving level : no (adult_no_preserve)
Adult: Don't generate connected stairs : no (adult_no_stairs)
Adult: Monsters chase current location : no (adult_ai_sound)
Adult: Monsters chase recent locations : no (adult_ai_smell)
Adult: Monsters act smarter in groups : no (adult_ai_packs)
Adult: Monsters learn from their mistakes : no (adult_ai_learn)
Adult: Monsters exploit players weaknesses : no (adult_ai_cheat)
Adult: Monsters behave more intelligently (broken): no (adult_ai_smart)
Score: Peek into object creation : no (score_peek)
Score: Peek into monster creation : no (score_hear)
Score: Peek into dungeon creation : no (score_room)
Score: Peek into something else : no (score_xtra)
Score: Know complete monster info : no (score_know)
Score: Allow player to avoid death : no (score_live)

[Psi]

An interesting take on the mage class! Your current playstyle would suit a rogue a lot better though.

Si

[will_asher]

I thought I'd post to this thread again even though I'm back to my usual kobold paladin. (The character from the above post died from greed- tried to stay to collect treasure when he should've ran away).

I got another early good weapon this game in the form of Narsil laying on the ground on L5, but the reason I posted actually doesn't have a lot to do with how my current game is going.
I'm on clvl 21, depth Level 13, and I see some "Z"s. They're grey so I assume they're dark hounds, but they turn out to be water hounds! grey water hounds. Why are water hounds grey? I up till recently allways played with tiles, but then I was playing with my modified .txt files and got used to not using tiles, so I quit using them. I assumed that the color of the monster might give some clue as to what the monster is, but no, water hounds are grey Z's, and the colors seem quite random unless the color is part of the monster's name.

Anyway, nothing very exciting.. I just got really annoyed when I found a groups of hounds and thought they were dark hounds, but they turned out to be water hounds. Maybe I should start playing with tiles again.

[zaimoni]

The monster list makes it much easier to know what @ is seeing

[will_asher]

Is there a way to keep the monster list open? 'cause I never think about opening the monster list while I'm playing, I had never heard of it until recently.

[zaimoni]

I generally assign the monster list to term-1 and keep that open as well as the main Angband window.

[will_asher]

How do you do that?

[zaimoni]

To set what's on the extra windows (term-1 through term-8):
*

=W

gets to the window suboptions, which is an array of checkboxes; use t to turn on specific displays for specific windows.
* Actually making the windows show is platform specific. For Windows, it's controlled by the Visibility submenu of the Windows menu. I would guess other graphical ports are similar.

I don't immediately recall how it works for the curses port (the other one I test for my variant), but it does work.

[tigen]

Originally Posted by zaimoni

I don't immediately recall how it works for the curses port (the other one I test for my variant), but it does work.

Yeah, but not if you use big screen.

[will_asher]

Thanks, I had figured out how to open the second window, just not how to make it show the monster list.