Newbie High Elf mage seeks advice

[g. rodrigues]

First off, I'm a newbie. The current char I am working with has four times more experience than my most successful one and is 10 levels deeper than I have ever been. In short, I am out of my depth. As you can see from the turn count I am taking things really slowly. Seeking any general hints on how to proceed, what resistances to get, what depth is safe to dive, what monsters to look out for, etc. Not the whole plot, just general hints. TIA, character dump follows:

Note: updating dump, found some new gear. Second dump update.

[Angband 3.0.9 Character Dump]

Name Ulothori Self RB CB EB Best
Sex Male Age 125 STR: 18/98 +1 -5 +7 18/128
Race High-Elf Height 93 INT! 18/100 +3 +3 +4 18/200
Class Mage Weight 169 WIS: 18/49 -1 +0 +3 18/69
Title Conjurer Status 41 DEX: 18/32 +3 +1 +2 18/92
HP 386/386 Maximize Y CON: 18/95 +1 -2 +5 18/135
SP 261/266 CHR: 18/90 +5 +1 +6 18/210

Level 34 Armor [31,+81] Saving Throw Heroic
Cur Exp 661645 Fight (+20,+16) Stealth Superb
Max Exp 661645 Melee (+28,+27) Fighting Excellent
Adv Exp 805000 Shoot (+31,+20) Shooting Excellent
MaxDepth Lev 40 Blows 2/turn Disarming Superb
Turns 3093068 Shots 1/turn Magic Device Legendary
Gold 265388 Infra 40 ft Perception Good
Burden 154.8 lbs Speed 6 Searching Fair

You are one of several children of a Telerin Archer. You have light
grey eyes, straight brown hair, and a fair complexion.



abcdefghijkl@ abcdefghijkl@
Acid:+.....+.+.... Blind:+............
Elec:+.....+.+.... Confu:......+..+...
Fire:+.....+.+.... Sound:......+......
Cold:+.....+.+.... Shard:.............
Pois:............. Nexus:.......+.....
Fear:......+...... Nethr:.............
Lite:........+...+ Chaos:.............
Dark:............. Disen:.............

abcdefghijkl@ abcdefghijkl@
S.Dig:............. Stea.:+......++....
Feath:+..........+. Sear.:.............
PLite:............. Infra:.............
Regen:+............ Tunn.:.............
Telep:............. Speed:...+...+.....
Invis:+...........+ Blows:.............
FrAct:+.........+.. Shots:.............
HLife:............. Might:.............


[Character Equipment]

a) The Battle Axe of Balli Stonehand (3d8) (+8,+11) [+5] (+3) {@w1}
It increases your strength and constitution by 3. It increases your
stealth by 3. It slays orcs, trolls, and demons. It provides
resistance to acid, lightning, fire, cold, and blindness. It makes
you fall like a feather and speeds your regeneration. It grants you
immunity to paralysis and the ability to see invisible things. It
cannot be harmed by the elements.
b) a Long Bow of Power (x3) (+11,+20)
c) a Platinum Ring of Intelligence (+4)
It increases your intelligence by 4. It sustains your intelligence.

d) a Tortoise Shell Ring of Speed (+3)
It increases your speed by 3.
e) a Silver Amulet of Charisma (+3)
It increases your charisma by 3. It sustains your charisma.
f) The Phial of Galadriel
It usually provides light of radius 3. It activates for
illumination every 10+d10 turns. It cannot be harmed by the
elements.
g) The Metal Brigandine Armour of the Rohirrim [19,+15] (+2)
It increases your strength and dexterity by 2. It provides
resistance to acid, lightning, fire, cold, fear, confusion, and
sound. It cannot be harmed by the elements.
h) The Cloak 'Colannon' [1,+15] (+3)
It increases your stealth and speed by 3. It provides resistance to
nexus. It activates for teleport every 45 turns. It cannot be
harmed by the elements.
i) a Large Metal Shield of Elvenkind [5,+6] (+1 to stealth)
It increases your stealth by 1. It provides resistance to acid,
lightning, fire, cold, and light. It cannot be harmed by the
elements.
j) The Metal Cap of Thengel [3,+12] (+3)
It increases your wisdom and charisma by 3. It provides resistance
to confusion. It cannot be harmed by the elements.
k) The Set of Leather Gloves 'Cambeleg' (+8,+8) [1,+15] (+2)
It increases your strength and constitution by 2. It grants you
immunity to paralysis. It cannot be harmed by the elements.
l) a Pair of Soft Leather Boots of Slow Descent [2,+8]
It makes you fall like a feather.


[Character Inventory]

a) 3 Books of Magic Spells [Magic for Beginners] {@m1@b1}
b) 3 Books of Magic Spells [Conjurings and Tricks] {@m2@b2}
c) 3 Books of Magic Spells [Incantations and Illusions] {@m3@b3}
d) 3 Books of Magic Spells [Sorcery and Evocations] {@m4@b4}
e) a Book of Magic Spells [Resistances of Scarabtarices] {@m5@b5}
It cannot be harmed by the elements.
f) a Book of Magic Spells [Raal's Tome of Destruction] {@m6@b6}
It cannot be harmed by the elements.
g) a Book of Magic Spells [Mordenkainen's Escapes] {@m7@b7}
It cannot be harmed by the elements.
h) a Book of Magic Spells [Kelek's Grimoire of Power] {@m8@b8}
It cannot be harmed by the elements.
i) 8 Metallic Purple Potions of Healing {@q2}
j) a Red Speckled Potion of *Healing*
k) 7 Misty Potions of Restore Mana {@q4}
l) 7 Oily Yellow Potions of Restore Life Levels
m) a Dogwood Staff of Probing (4 charges)
n) Metal Brigandine Armour of Resist Lightning (-3) [19,+8]
It provides resistance to lightning. It cannot be harmed by
electricity.
o) a Metal Cap of Regeneration [3,+7]
It speeds your regeneration.
p) 7 Arrows (1d4) (+7,+5) {@f1}


[Home Inventory]

a) a White Spotted Mushroom of Restoring
b) 4 Green Speckled Potions of Speed {@q0}
c) 8 Grey Potions of Cure Critical Wounds {@q1}
d) a Red Speckled Potion of *Healing*
e) 10 Misty Potions of Restore Mana {@q4}
f) 7 Oily Yellow Potions of Restore Life Levels
g) 21 Scrolls titled "lego pense" of Teleportation {@r2}
h) 10 Scrolls titled "imultus leo" of *Identify*
i) a Scroll titled "plus ellae" of *Remove Curse*
j) a Locust Staff of Teleportation (8 charges) {@u1}
k) an Ironwood Staff of Holiness (4 charges)
l) a Bamboo Staff of *Destruction* (4 charges)
m) a Metal Cap of Seeing [3,+8] (+1 to searching)
It increases your searching by 1. It provides resistance to
blindness. It grants you the ability to see invisible things.
n) The Dagger 'Dethanc' (2d4) (+9,+9)
It is branded with electricity. It provides resistance to lightning.
It activates for lightning bolt (4d8) every 6+d6 turns. It cannot
be harmed by the elements.
o) The Dagger 'Narthanc' (2d4) (+7,+6)
It is branded with fire. It provides resistance to fire. It
activates for fire bolt (9d8) every 8+d8 turns. It cannot be harmed
by the elements.
p) The Dagger 'Nimthanc' (2d4) (+7,+9)
It is branded with frost. It provides resistance to cold. It
activates for frost bolt (6d8) every 7+d7 turns. It cannot be
harmed by the elements.
q) The Rapier 'Forasgil' (1d6) (+12,+19)
It slays animals. It is branded with frost. It provides resistance
to cold and light. It usually provides light of radius 4. It
cannot be harmed by the elements.

[new.ideas]

Reminds me of my HE Mage that died yesterday:
http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=7522

I think the main thing to do is to find something with Resist Blindness, so that you can always cast stuff. And resist Poison because that is the thing i always lack at that depth and why i die.

I worked a lot with haste self and the several bolts which got beams very often (does the probability for that rise with clvl and/or INT?).

[MKula]

You seem to be pretty well equipped for your level. I would dive down to about 40-45ish; a lot of artifacts are native there and that's a pretty good depth to max out all your stats.

My biggest concern for you is that big gaping hole where Poison Resist should be; Dracolisks start showing up pretty soon, and with only 300ish HP, one breath might kill you... On a related note, you might wanna consider getting some +CON gear to get your HP up a bit.

That's my $0.02.

EDIT: I just realized I'm not sure that it's Dracolisks... in any case SOMETHING around your depth starts to breathe heavy poison.

[Pete Mack]

Yep. He needs CON badly. I would use the +2 Westernesse weapon, just for that. (In any case, Forasgil is better than Dethanc for pure damage.)


I also think a good RoCON is probably better than a Ring of Speed(+3); Mage Haste Self spell is enough speed for most purposes, until you are pretty deep.

[g. rodrigues]

Originally Posted by Pete Mack

Yep. He needs CON badly. I would use the +2 Westernesse weapon, just for that. (In any case, Forasgil is better than Dethanc for pure damage.)


I also think a good RoCON is probably better than a Ring of Speed(+3); Mage Haste Self spell is enough speed for most purposes, until you are pretty deep.

So dump speed for const ring, ok.

As you can see in my new dump, I got my hands on Balli Stonehand's axe, which gives +3 con. Should I carry any of the *thanc daggers / forasgil as backup weapons?

I have also hit 0% fail on most spells (teleport self, resistances, haste), and having rConf and rBlind and another teleport source from the cloak, I'm leaving staff and scrolls behind. Is this safe or is there some gotcha?

Been lucky with my finds until now. But have not been able to find a single source of rPoison or any good amulet (the best I found, a +4 wis, I squelched it by mistake ).

[Nick]

Originally Posted by g. rodrigues

As you can see in my new dump, I got my hands on Balli Stonehand's axe, which gives +3 con. Should I carry any of the *thanc daggers / forasgil as backup weapons?

No. Balli Stonehand is an ideal weapon for you now, and likely to be for a long time - possibly even final gear.

I have also hit 0% fail on most spells (teleport self, resistances, haste), and having rConf and rBlind and another teleport source from the cloak, I'm leaving staff and scrolls behind. Is this safe or is there some gotcha?

You can also be stunned, which will give you a non-zero fail rate. RSound stops any breath stunning, but melee stunning is still possible. Carrying scrolls of teleport level is always a good idea.

[will_asher]

Originally Posted by Nick

You can also be stunned, which will give you a non-zero fail rate. RSound stops any breath stunning, but melee stunning is still possible.

I noticed in my last game that I never got stunned by the breath of impact hounds when I had RSound, but I thought RSound was only supposed to protect from sound not force. Was this changed recently?

[Pete Mack]

Originally Posted by will_asher

I noticed in my last game that I never got stunned by the breath of impact hounds when I had RSound, but I thought RSound was only supposed to protect from sound not force. Was this changed recently?

RSound protects you from all magical (distance attack) stunning. It doesn't help against Master Mystics or Grand Master Mystics. I just teleport away all Mystics and especially GMM when I see them. (Except in NPP. GMM has a GREAT drop in NPP, and thus is worth killing.)