Anyone else have this problem?

[Nazghul]

I am a relatively new player, having only begun experimenting with Angband (the Vanilla version, haven't seen any of the others yet). However, I have noticed a VERY disturbing trend, and I want to know if I am the only one who has this issue.

Basically, it boils down to this. Whenever I dare to create a character who is NOT a High Elf (and therefore, born with the See Invisible intrinsic), I inevitably run into an invisible monster on D1 or D2 which proceeds to violate me in every orifice while drilling a few extras just for the sheer horror of it all. I have piled up 49 character deaths in the past 72 hours, all of them characters that (real time) lasted less than ten minutes a piece. I simply wandered into the dungeon and died, at the hands of things I never even saw. It's gotten to the point where I have deleted my scorefile several times because I am ashamed to even have to look at it.

My question is, has anyone else had this problem, and more importantly, has anyone found a way to circumvent it? I'd love to try something besides High Elves, but so far, they appear to be the only race with ANY survivability; I currently have two surviving characters, a level 5 Mage who I just started, and a level 12 Warrior who I have been playing off and on since I downloaded the game (he was my first character). My only two High Elves, and the only ones who haven't fallen prey to early invisibles. Thoughts?

[PowerWyrm]

In the early levels, invisible monsters like clear icky things or poltergeists are really really weak and should never kill one of your characters unless you stand next to them and do nothing. Try to hit them randomly, they should fall in one hit, even with a mage.

When you start to hit 500ft or so, things become a little harder. You can meet moaning spirits, who can drain your dexterity and make you unable to fight, or worse, a pack of clear hounds. If you chose a race with infravision, you will be able to detect the hounds, but not the spirits. In this case, simply run away...

[Nick]

Maybe clear worm masses? If you're spending a lot of time on a given level, you could get an infestation of clear worm masses (which breed).

[Timo Pietilä]

Originally Posted by Nick

Maybe clear worm masses? If you're spending a lot of time on a given level, you could get an infestation of clear worm masses (which breed).

IIRC clear worm masses crawl to poison, so char should get poisoned by them.

[Timo Pietilä]

Originally Posted by Timo Pietilä

IIRC clear worm masses crawl to poison, so char should get poisoned by them.

It could be Smeagol. He's dlvl 3 creature, has lots of HP and is really fast. He hits to steal gold, so if you don't have any then he keeps hitting you instead of teleporting away with puff of successful theft.

[eMeM]

49 chars deaths due to invisible monsters on 50' - 100' depth? Just to make sure you don't have files corrupted or visual options changed I would advise to delete game and download it again.

[Derakon]

I'm guessing the characters you were rolling up instead of high-elves were dunadan? They have no infravision, and thus cannot see warm-blooded invisible monsters (i.e. all of the early invisible monsters that aren't ghosts). Humans also don't have any infravision, but every other race has at least some.

My advice is, roll up a half-troll warrior. They're practically indestructible early on, and thus serve as a great way to learn how the dungeon works. Plus, it's nicely therapeutic to smash in the skulls of the monsters who gave your last character so much trouble.

Also, welcome to Angband!

[Nazghul]

I really appreciate the advice, and the welcome. I love how challenging the game is, and how much it reminds me of Moria, my first rogue-like. I am going to give the Half-Troll Warrior a shot, see how that goes. Also, another quick question... Is there a way to keep acid using monsters from melting all of my armor into uselessness? Since the RNG hates me so passionately, I never find any in the dungeon, and spawns in the shop are random, and therefore also not to be trusted.

[Derakon]

There are only two ways to protect your armor: find a source of acid immunity (not resistance), or wear armor that is protected from corrosion. But take heart! Every time the acid attacks your armor (even if the armor is corrosion-proof), you take half damage. So it's worth investing in armor in every slot even if it ends up getting melted into uselessness.

[Philip]

Later you find armor that can't be damaged as easily. Until then, get a general idea of what monsters have acid attacks and try to find a way to kill them from a distance, or just plain avoid them.

Jellies don't move, so you don't have to kill them. Get a bow and arrows somewhere in case you need to kill them anyway. Oozes have no HP, easy to kill with bow and arrows or just try to get the first hit by making them use both their moves getting to you. Icky things move erratically, a couple shots with a bow and the first hit should deal with them.

Later you'll meet ochre jellies, gelatinous cubes and water hounds. Those are hard to deal with, mostly you can try to have high damage output for the hounds, a whole load of phase door and arrows for the gelatinous cubes and the ochre jellies(won't work too well, mind you) and acid resistant stuff for all of them. If you meet multiple moving jelly type monsters, consider running away through nearby stairs or scrolls of teleportation.