I continued exploring D:3 and identified my amulet as guardian spirit! Guardian spirit protects you from damage by using your MP as your HP. When you run out of MP you start taking damage normally again. I don't usually wear this amulet, since most of my characters eventually use spells. It's useful for berserkers, since spells are forbidden to them.
I started identifying my stuff, which I always do on D:3. I already talked about IDing wands and, to a lesser extent, potions in previous updates. You ID scrolls by simply reading them. Most scrolls will auto-identify when read.
The best way to ID scrolls is to have a weak monster around, while wielding a bladed weapon, and have a wand in your inventory. That way you should be able to ID all the scrolls in the game. I identified an identify, fog, remove/detect curse (the scroll that did nothing), and curse weapon scrolls.
Scrolls:
Identify - Tells you everything about an item. I mainly use them for jewelry, especially artifact jewelry.
Fog - Creates a cloud of fog. It blocks the line of sight (LOS), which is very useful in emergencies. I like to horde them, until I reach the endgame.
Remove Curse - Uncurses every item in your inventory. I typically stash them away and carry detect scrolls.
Detect Curse - Detects the curse status of every item in your inventory.
Curse Weapon - Curses a wielded weapon.
Cursed?! Will you die horribly soon???Unlike other roguelikes, curses in Crawl only causes the item to stick to you. Nothing else. To be honest, I think the "ID mini-game" in Crawl is kinda boring and pointless. It doesn't add much to the game, but whatever.
I gained the Short Blades skill and I promptly turn it off. Why? Kobolds have high aptitude for those weapons, so I don't want the skill to increase too fast. I haven't talked about our skills yet, so here we go:
Warning! Infodump time!Fighting - The basic skill used in hand-to-hand combat, and applies no matter which weapon your character is wielding. Fighting is also the skill that determines the number of hit points your character gets as they increase in levels. The first level of Fighting skill can be obtained by beating on plants and fungi.
Short Blades (and all other Weapon skills) - Weapon skill improves the speed with which you can use your weapon by about 10% every two skill levels.
Considering the biggest effect weapon skills have on is attack speed (and attack speed is capped), it's best to turn off your weapon skill around 10, if you're using an already fast weapon, like short blades. Big, slow weapons, like giant clubs, benefit the most from leaving its weapon skill on.
Armour - Having a high Armour skill means that you are used to wearing heavy armour, allowing you to move more freely and gain more protection. When you look at an armour's description (from within the inventory), you can see in particular how cumbersome it is. This is measured by the Evasion modifier.
Walking and fighting in heavy armour will train the Armour skill. This skill helps to overcome the evasion penalty of body armours, reduces the amount by which heavy armour hamper melee fighting and also mitigates the bad effects of heavy armour on spellcasting. A really high Armour skill increases the AC provided by other types of armour (gloves, cloaks, etc.).
Dodging - Not getting hit by weapons, missiles and spells trains Dodging. This is easier done in lighter armours. A high Dodging skill helps you to evade attacks better. You also train the Dodging skill when wearing a heavy armour, but more slowly.
Stealth - Helps you avoid being noticed. Try not to wear heavy armour or be encumbered if you want to be stealthy. Large creatures (like Trolls) are bad at stealth. The big exception are Nagas, which are unusually stealthy. Stealth is trained by walking around lightly armoured, and especially by walking around unnoticed.
End of infodump!
I found a pair of boots and a quokka nearby. Quokka - Cute. Harmless. Tasty!
We gained a new ability from Trog! It's called "Trog's Hand", and as you can see above it boosts our regen and MR. I don't use it often. It's useful if you need the MR, but the regen effect is pretty weak.
I identified two more scrolls - magic mapping and teleportation. Magic mapping reveals most of dungeon map, but it doesn't reveal what's on the other side of secret doors anymore. Teleportation puts you in a random location on the level. It takes about 3 turns for it to work, unless you're in the Abyss (it takes longer there), and can be canceled by starting another teleport.
Anyway, we meet a new monster, an ogre! They like to say hello by smashing your face in with their huge clubs.
Ogres can deal a lot of damage when they hit (up to 30+ dmg), enough to instant-kill squishy characters, like dik-dik! How to deal with them? The safest way to kill them is from afar, usually with poison.
I went for a more direct approach (not like I can do much else)!
Ogres have lousy accuracy and slow swings, so dik-dik killed him quickly by going berserk. And we gained another level! After exploring the rest of the floor, and finding a helmet, we head downstairs.
If you're wondering why dik-dik suddenly has over a hundred bolts in his inventory it's because I decided to try out crossbows.On D:4, we encounter another new enemy, a worm. A giant, slow moving worm with teeth. Their bites are surprisingly painful! Of course, they shouldn't ever be able to kill you, due to their speed.
Help! I keep getting killed by worms and snails!You suck at Crawl.
There are two ways to handle these kinds of monsters:
1) Melee - Hit them and move away. When they get next to you hit them again and move away. Repeat until they're dead. Yes, this is the same way you deal with bats.
2) Ranged - They're slow. You have no excuse for dying!
Testing more scrolls. It looks like I wasted remove curse before.
A kobold had a blowgun and some poisoned needles. Now, if only I could unwield my short sword...
I ran into a hound and decided to check other parts of the level.
Hounds are kinda like jackals, except tougher and travels alone. I killed and ate some dungeon trash and found some more bolts.
Finally! I found a scroll of remove curse. Now I get to poison monsters!
I ran into a monster many newbies hate - an orc priest! These guys can smite you. And smite is very dangerous in the early-game. Why is it so dangerous? Smite can hit you from anywhere, as long as the caster can see you. And it bypasses all defenses.
And if you see one orc that usually means that there's more around. I threw a rock at the priest and ran behind cover. The orc priest still managed to smite me, while I fled.
I waited for the priest to approach and killed it by going berserk.
Afterward, I went back and killed the priest's buddies.
More orcs appeared while I was recovering from berserk's slowdown. Being slow while an enemy is around is a Very Bad Thing. Your actions take longer while slowed and monsters can attack you more often.
We'll see how dik-dik fares against these enemies next time on Let's Play Dungeon Crawl:Stone Soup!
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Topic: Let's Play Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup! (Read 96010 times)