Anyway, I had a really good run with an Elf Ranger and a lawful human priest, got to dungeon level FOUR! Is there any way to check your pet's stats?
The best way is to use a stethoscope. It's quite rare, so you need luck to find one. Healers start with one, but they have plenty of other problems for new players. Sometimes hardware stores will carry one.
Stand next to your pet and [a]pply stethoscope towards it, and you will get its HP, AC and status. You can use it once for free each turn. If you use it twice than it will use up your turn. You can apply a stethoscope for many effects... experiment!
But most of us won't have one. So the easier but less accurate test is to #chat with your pet. If it's a horse you're riding, chat downwards (>). Your pet will give you a sound... pet at different status (e.g. hurt, hungry) will give a different sound. Take notes and experiment.
"Bad kitty! Stop moving ahead and eating my corpses! My corpses!"
Carnivorous pets eat everything in sight if you let them. They still need to kill, then move onto the square to eat the corpse though, so if your character is fast, you have a chance to snatch the corpse first.
If you are fast (or very fast), the turn counter doesn't move at every key press... essentially, you get a free turn at regular intervals. Pay attention to the turn counter.
Some characters (like Valkyrie) become fast as they level up. Some needs items, e.g. boots of speed, potion of speed, haste self speed and wand of speed monster. Corpse of a specific higher level monster (I don't want to spoil it) will also give you speed.
"goddamn you stone to flesh! Work already!"
Pretty much all spellcasters start with a second spell they don't have much chance to use, due to spell failure and insufficient MP. Level up a bit should do it.
"Why does it seem like everything moves faster than me?"
Those four legged or six legged menaces (rothes, ants) are fast and come in a group. If you can't run, hide! Stay in a corridor and put your pet in front of you.
"God! Where are all these monsters coming from? I'd swear I killed them all!"
Monsters spawn all the time. It's good we have them or we might starve on return trips.
"A towel AND a brass lantern? SWEET!"
Towel is a nod to a famous sci-fi book...
"Finally got stone to flesh to work! Now I have a huge hunk of meat! *Kitty runs in and eats it* GODDAMMIT BAD KITTY!"
Huge chunk of meat is no good... unless you are already starving, you might choke to death eating it, and it's very heavy. Find a pickaxe and break it apart before using stone to flesh. You get a pile of meatballs which you can use as treats to train your pet, plus I think a pet can only eat one at a time.
"I just found this whistle and... sweet! magic whistle!"
Indeed! Nothing pleases a healer more than finding one early on.
"I have all these potions/scrolls and I don't know what they do, I'd save them for a desperation move but I get raped too fast to find out!"
You can drop your item in a shop (then say no to "sell it?" prompt) to check its price. Identify scrolls are among the cheapest scrolls, and *usually* most common. The cheapest scrolls, when uncursed, are harmless anyway.
Actual price varies according to your charisma, and that if you are a tourist, or have T-shirt worn without cloak/armor to cover it (so you look like a tourist).
So bring lots of scrolls and compare.
"I wish I knew my prayer timeout so Mars would stop getting angry at me already!"
Try the #offer command at your god's altar. A wand/scroll of enlightenment also works.
Typically for a new character, it's safe to pray every 600 turns or so. As you level up it takes longer.
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Topic: Nethack (Read 176428 times)