YASD: Silly Combo

[Marble Dice]

CL 25 High Elf Mage on dungeon level 36. I'm about to go down some stairs but I notice there's a grey wraith not too far away worth ~1000 xp and they're not all that dangerous so I figure easy xp.

I go over there, explore the hallway that's next to the sleeping wraith, walk over to his end and take a peek at him, then I start to move back away from him so I can light the hallway, wake him with a stinking cloud, and nuke him as he walks to me.

As I get to the far end of the hallway, I spy a shambling mound coming around the corner. "What in the world?" I think. I don't remember seeing any mounds on the recent detects I fired off. I step back one tile as it comes into line of sight (unfortunately I didn't have a hockey stick on the first turn I could see it, otherwise I wouldn't be posting here). I hit it with an acid bolt for about 75% damage, it shrieks, I assume the grey wraith popped around the still darkened corner at this point, because I finish off the mound...

...and the grey wraith double casts cause critical wounds, killing me from full health.

They have a 1 in 7 chance of casting, and they know 4 spells. That would be under 2 in 1000 that they double cast cause crit, assuming an even distribution. Probably should have ported when I got that surprise mound.

[PowerDiver]

This is an example why using rods of lightbeams to illuminate all corridors is such a big deal. You really want to know when a foe is following you.

[Nick]

Originally Posted by Marble Dice

They have a 1 in 7 chance of casting, and they know 4 spells. That would be under 2 in 1000 that they double cast cause crit, assuming an even distribution.

Even less - you also had to fail both your saves.