Things the rookie learned diving a priest (3.1.x)

[Moving Pictures]

1) Orb of draining mops up crowds, esp at CL30.

2) Do *not* crack open a vault if you have no idea what's there. First out of the gate in a small one, level 36 - Vargo. One deep-fry, 17 hp. And oh, crap, the wand of TO is .... ash.

3) What the flaming heck is Kevlax doing on level 35, not in a vault?

4) that 2-9 level feeling at DL22? Hold your shorts, buddy. That's a (+5,+5) mace of disruption that, by the time you have buffed your STR to where you can use it, you will likely have something better.

4) Time vortexes suck. And lead to regret about killing that farmer who wanted to sell mushrooms, because I could really use one right now.

5) Two options: wail and bail, or hope that the monster runs out of hit points before you run out of mana points for the heals.

6) Why are all the monsters dropping epic/major pointy weapons when I'm playing a priest?

7) Earthquake is effective at minimizing room of vibration/dark hounds

8) do NOT dive to DL 45 without ESP or pBlind. Else carry crap tons of cure rods.

9) Priests suck early: lack of reasonable missile weapons (iron shots lead to weight issues) the big problem.

Thing I do not know: damage from a dispel evil. Is it really d90 or such? Because risky use of mana, that.

[Pete Mack]

If you dive without ESP and detection, carry a stack of light rods. Illuminating hallways lets you see monsters from far away. They will never get more than 2 moves in.

[Moving Pictures]

Sweet mother ... why did I think priests could not use crossbows/bows?

[bio_hazard]

Originally Posted by Moving Pictures

Sweet mother ... why did I think priests could not use crossbows/bows?

Because you expect the logic of an edged weapon penalty to also apply to missiles with edges? It should work this way, but it doesn't.

[Moving Pictures]

Originally Posted by bio_hazard

Because you expect the logic of an edged weapon penalty to also apply to missiles with edges? It should work this way, but it doesn't.

Yeah. I was around when first and second edition D&D came into vogue, so I guess that's my excuse.

(It's why I was stunned when my first attempt, a dwarf warrior, was offed at CL7 by mice. I was thinking "CL 7 is pretty damned strong to be offed by mice."