Bay 12 Games Forum

Well, goblins are good enough already. If you wanted more variety, you could try some berserk traders and caravan guards.

I've had some pretty rough deaths too.  I once got all the way to Medusa's lair, but didn't have a wand of ice.  I did have a wand of dig though, so I decided to dig down and head for the staircase on her island.  I landed in a vault, with three minotaurs and an elven champion(Something like that, Elven prince maybe?).  I killed the minotaurs, but was unaware of their status as the most damaging non-bosses in Nethack(or at least in the top 2 or 3).  Combine that with a short but perfectly timed bout of forgetfulness, I forgot to check my health, and was killed by the elf.

Ouch. It's a shame that you didn't get killed by the minotaurs. At least that would have been a cool death.

Anyway, Fisher, here are the problems with prayer and Elbereth in my situation;

1. Elbereth takes multiple turns to write, unless you write it in the dust. Dust writing smears, usually without you needing to even move. Besides, if I had been standing on an Elbereth'd square, the elemental could have waited until I had left and engulfed me instantly. Digging would have definitely smeared the engraving.

2. Prayer fully heals you and prevents monsters from attacking for a turn. Air elementals are fast enough to kill you after prayer expires and before you can (teleport, paralyze, confuse, etc) them. As far as I know, they act first. What's worse is that they have a really good AC; had I been able to cast sleep at them, it would have probably missed.

They'll be tame if the elves bring them. Tame lions run away from goblins and don't attack dwarves. Just letting you know.

2. NetHack is not for the 1337. It has too many ways out of general dangerous situations; like prayer and Elbereth.
3. A wand of slow monster wouldn't have helped. I would have still been killed, because they can only shoot in a straight line. I was killed trying to line it up for a sleep spell. I spent one move trying to line it up. I literally saw it, pressed a button, and died.

The >:O was supposed to denote sarcasm. Lemme fix this.

Edit: Fix'd.

I'm going to use drawings in the wet sand to try and explain to them that we were shipwrecked. If they seem unfamiliar with big ships, I'll draw all of us in a canoe. It should be obvious enough who the people are if there's a sphinx and a giant bird in there.


Did I mention that my character's helmet has a visor? 'Cause it does.

Okay, while the failure rates OP put out in the start of the thread seem a little high, I support this idea. Instead of total destruction or conversion to charcoal or something, bad features like burnt food or scratched gems would be good.