Not kidding about those Omens of Death...

[David B]

Level 1050, and there's a Lernaean Hydra. Worth 42k exp to my character. Thank goodness I had telepathy, so I didn't stumble on it accidentally.

In the process of running away I learned a lot about it, but mostly what I learned is that the Scroll of Teleport Level I had was well worth using. Yowza.

Is there a handy guide to how over-level the monsters are that generate messages like that?

First time back in a while. This game still rocks.

[Philip]

That means that there was a vault nearby. They're native to dlvl 57, while you were at 21. Only with a vault is it possible to get that OOD monsters. Why was a vault with highlevel squares open though, and did you have to sell your soul for telepathy that early?
EDIT: Responding to the actual question, I'm pretty sure its just something like monster power vs. player power, and probably was affected just as much by the other monsters in the vault as by the Hydra.

[David B]

Originally Posted by Philip

That means that there was a vault nearby. They're native to dlvl 57, while you were at 21. Only with a vault is it possible to get that OOD monsters. Why was a vault with highlevel squares open though, and did you have to sell your soul for telepathy that early?
EDIT: Responding to the actual question, I'm pretty sure its just something like monster power vs. player power, and probably was affected just as much by the other monsters in the vault as by the Hydra.

A Kobold Archer dropped a Hard Leather Cap of Telepathy a while ago, and, oh my, that thing is very helpful.

I managed to explore most of the level, and am pretty sure it was just a monster that was 30+ levels higher than where it should have been that caused that, because, yeah, there's no way I was standing up to that - no even taking into account all the other Hydras it was summoning.

[Philip]

I wouldn't be all that surprised in one of the more evil variants (having just played it, O is on my mind), but Vanilla has relatively strict rules on monster OOD generation (not on object generation, which, I think, is a mistake). Anyway, congrats on the Cap and on the survival.

[scud]

Originally Posted by Philip

did you have to sell your soul for telepathy that early?

In my current (3.3.2) game I found a Rod of Identify at 400' and an attractively lightweight *slay evil* with ESP not long after. Not sure I had to kill anything to get either item.

'Omens of death' are what makes life worth living. Have just completed the level below. Now to work out what to take home...

[Magnate]

Originally Posted by David B

Is there a handy guide to how over-level the monsters are that generate messages like that?

Not exactly, but if you look at the "monster list" (which is one of [ or ], I forget which because I just keep it in a subwindow) you can see monsters listed in order of badness. I'm pretty sure the Learnean Hydra (there is only one) would have been at the top of your list for that level.

[Timo Pietilä]

Originally Posted by Magnate

Not exactly, but if you look at the "monster list" (which is one of [ or ], I forget which because I just keep it in a subwindow) you can see monsters listed in order of badness. I'm pretty sure the Learnean Hydra (there is only one) would have been at the top of your list for that level.

IIRC that list lists uniques first no matter how shallow they are. Then rest are probably in depth order which isn't quite same as danger they pose.