I died - but What the f* happened?

[Cfant]

Hi guys!

My Paladin is gone... Sad, but true. After the shock is gone, Angband Police Department is investigating. What has happened? I killed the Balrog, then met a grand master mystic.

He is very quickly, I had speed 11. So I'm normal speed *2, he is normal speed *3, true? I was immune to paralyze-spells, so this was not th problem. But he got a lot of attacks without any time to react for me, otherwise I would have teleported of course. Can anyone tell me, why the bastard got so many attacks?

[AnonymousHero]

Stunning: You got knocked out (which happens when you accumulate "enough" stunning). Free Action does not confer immunity to stun, you'd need pStun for that. (pStun is very rare on standard artifacts, but you can get it relatively easily from headgear "of Serenity".)

If you don't have pStun and are not at least speed 20, there's a chance that GMMs in melee range can knock you out before you have a chance to react.

TL;DR: Avoid meleeing GMMs. In fact, I'd just avoid them altogether (by using TeleOther either from a devices or the spell) -- they're not worth fighting purely because of the annoyance factor.

[Cfant]

Oooooohhhh, stun... ok. Thanks. Found a lot of stuff, but nothing to defend against stunning.

Sigh. I really wish, I had not engaged.

[Timo Pietilä]

Originally Posted by Cfant

Oooooohhhh, stun... ok. Thanks. Found a lot of stuff, but nothing to defend against stunning.

Sigh. I really wish, I had not engaged.

Just to warn you, there are other monsters that can stun, and plasma hounds are especially dangerous for that. Single plasma hound wont KO you, but it takes about three and you are KO without stunning protection. Gravity hounds usually kill you before you get KO, but not always

[Rydel]

Also, speed 11 isn't twice normal speed - Speed 20 is.

[Derakon]

Originally Posted by Rydel

Also, speed 11 isn't twice normal speed - Speed 20 is.

False. Speed +10 is double normal, speed +20 is triple normal. You should try to avoid fighting monsters that are more than, oh, +5 faster than you are, because it gives them a substantial advantage. Being double-turned is no fun.

You can clear stunning by drinking a Cure Critical Wounds potion. Stunning makes you significantly worse at just about everything -- your damage and accuracy go down, your spell failure rates go up, you get worse at using magic devices, etc. You should clear stunning as soon as you can.

[d_m]

Originally Posted by Derakon

You can clear stunning by drinking a Cure Critical Wounds potion. Stunning makes you significantly worse at just about everything -- your damage and accuracy go down, your spell failure rates go up, you get worse at using magic devices, etc. You should clear stunning as soon as you can.

Yeah, as soon as you see a message about stunning it's a good time to try to escape, teleport, or if nothing else drink a potion.

[Cold_Heart]

There is sadly only one way to learn about GMM and this kind of mechanic (mechanic of getting stunned because of a 2 result on d2 damage roll on some types of attack) - and this is it. Kind of wish it was more documented or obvious. Or gone.

[Cfant]

Well,thanks for the advice Still, you need so many resistances, I wonder, how to save your char against all the dangers out there

[Timo Pietilä]

Originally Posted by Cfant

Well,thanks for the advice Still, you need so many resistances, I wonder, how to save your char against all the dangers out there

You don't really need many resistances. At high levels only acid, fire, cold, electricity and poison can single-shot you, and even poison can't unless you are playing hobbit mage or are already a bit damaged.

You need HP (CON & clvl) and speed (to avoid double-hits), detection to know what to avoid, and protections against unknown effects (Free Action, pBlind, pConf, pStun), escapes to get away from bad situation (tele-level, *destruction* and so on), and some healing (CCW) to cure bad statuses (poison, cuts, blind, stun).

Everything else is luxury.