atheist wish?

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I have been trying to play atheists recently, mostly arcs, knights and
samurai. I have one question about early wishes - is it better to wish
for DSM as usual, or a decent weapon (Grayswandir or Vorpal Blade)?
Seeing as I am unlikely to find one randomly generated, this has been a
tough choice several times when I found a magic lamp in Minetown. Any
advice?

Thanks
Joe

 

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Um, I can't sacrifice if I'm playing atheist, right?

 

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hepcaten@yahoo.co.uk wrote:
> I have been trying to play atheists recently, mostly arcs, knights and
> samurai. I have one question about early wishes - is it better to wish
> for DSM as usual, or a decent weapon (Grayswandir or Vorpal Blade)?
> Seeing as I am unlikely to find one randomly generated, this has been a
> tough choice several times when I found a magic lamp in Minetown. Any
> advice?
>
> Thanks
> Joe
>

Excalibur may be enough for you, but in your situation I'd spend a wish
on Grayswandir anyway. I don't consider DSM very vital in the first
place, unless you're sorely lacking a resistance. I would spend a wish
on a cloak of magic resistance before GDSM, but I don't think I'd get
either (yet) if I have reflection already.

I don't think AC makes that much of a difference. In my book, you
shouldn't be putting yourself in situations requiring a good AC to
survive. The resistances are worth a wish though.


Remember, a good weapon helps you survive just as well as good armor, in
a different way.

 

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hepcaten@yahoo.co.uk wrote:
> I have been trying to play atheists recently, mostly arcs, knights and
> samurai. I have one question about early wishes - is it better to wish
> for DSM as usual, or a decent weapon (Grayswandir or Vorpal Blade)?
> Seeing as I am unlikely to find one randomly generated, this has been a
> tough choice several times when I found a magic lamp in Minetown. Any
> advice?

Well, I wouldn't cancel a magic lamp. But if you like to do so and don't
mind the risk to fail getting the wish then I'd go for GDSM. You can get
artifacts from sacrifices. But the Perfect Wish depends on the character
that you play, how far you proceeded, and what you already have in your
inventory.

Janis

 

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Jym wrote:
>
> As he told, he's playing athesit. Atheist can't get artifacts from
> sacrifices...

Chuckle. They can, they just aren't atheists afterwards ;^)

> Really, I think excalibur is a good mid-game weapon and easy to get,
it
> should be doable to fight your way down to the castle wand with
"only"
> that.

Agreed. Given its searching, Ex makes for a fine weapon very
deep in the dungeon. The cost of all hostile demons vs good
automatic searching, yet another Nethack tradeoff with no
certain right answer.

 

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On Sat, 19 Mar 2005, Janis Papanagnou wrote:

> hepcaten@yahoo.co.uk wrote:
> > I have been trying to play atheists recently, mostly arcs, knights and
> > samurai. I have one question about early wishes - is it better to wish
> > for DSM as usual, or a decent weapon (Grayswandir or Vorpal Blade)?
> > Seeing as I am unlikely to find one randomly generated, this has been a
> > tough choice several times when I found a magic lamp in Minetown. Any
> > advice?
>
> Well, I wouldn't cancel a magic lamp. But if you like to do so and don't
> mind the risk to fail getting the wish then I'd go for GDSM. You can get
> artifacts from sacrifices. But the Perfect Wish depends on the character
> that you play, how far you proceeded, and what you already have in your
> inventory.

As he told, he's playing athesit. Atheist can't get artifacts from
sacrifices...

Well, for samourai I guess you could try to leave with the Tsurgi as a
good artifact weapon (een if it's two handed). For other classes... well,
wish is the only way to get artefact weapon but you may live down t the
castle without one (arc can wonderfully use mattocks, and don't forget to
dip for excalibur (I don't thing this goes against atheism, but I'm not
sure, double check if in doubt)).

DSM could greatly increase your chance to live. Maybe a good AC is more
important as an early wish that a huge weapon, especially since there are
other non artifacts weapons that are usable.

Once you've reach teh castle and its wand, then no problem, you should
have a least a spare wish to have the artifact you want.

Really, I think excalibur is a good mid-game weapon and easy to get, it
should be doable to fight your way down to the castle wand with "only"
that.

Hypocoristiquement,
Jym.

 

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hepcaten@yahoo.co.uk wrote:
> Um, I can't sacrifice if I'm playing atheist, right?

Ahh, I've overseen that part. But weapon is not too important, IMO.
So the rest of the advice is still valid, as far as I would act.

Janis

 

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hepcaten@yahoo.co.uk writes:

> I have been trying to play atheists recently, mostly arcs, knights and
> samurai. I have one question about early wishes - is it better to wish
> for DSM as usual, or a decent weapon (Grayswandir or Vorpal Blade)?
> Seeing as I am unlikely to find one randomly generated, this has been a
> tough choice several times when I found a magic lamp in Minetown. Any
> advice?

You might try wishing for the +2 Magicbane on your first wish, although
it's better for classes other than the ones you play. That gives you
magic resistance, and it may actually be the best weapon for some
classes (elf, healer, wizard) if you won't be able to enchant
Grayswandir or Frost Brand much. (Note that you should wish for
Magicbane at +2, not the +3 that is best for most artifacts; it loses a
lot of its magical effects when enchanted from +2 to +3.)

The downside is that you will then need even more wishes if you want
Grayswandir late in the game.

--
David Grabiner, grabiner@alumni.princeton.edu, http://remarque.org/~grabiner
Baseball labor negotiations FAQ: http://remarque.org/~grabiner/laborfaq.html
Shop at the Mobius Strip Mall: Always on the same side of the street!
Klein Glassworks, Torus Coffee and Donuts, Projective Airlines, etc.

 

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Jym wrote:
For other classes... well,
> wish is the only way to get artefact weapon
> Jym.

Artifacts can be found-e.g. the +2 rustproof Frost Brand has been
obtained from the weeapon store in Fort Ludicrous; and if an Archon were
to be reverse genocided it might carry Demonbane or Sunsword. A Bullwhip
could be applied to yank the artifact from the unwilling creature..or
it could be murdered by a strong enough opponent.

 

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Andy Johnson wrote:
> hepcaten@yahoo.co.uk wrote:

> I don't think AC makes that much of a difference. In my book, you
> shouldn't be putting yourself in situations requiring a good AC to
> survive. The resistances are worth a wish though.

That is sometimes impossible to avoid. You can fall through a trap door
and be surrounded in no time. A good weapon, even an artifact one will
not suffice to make you survive in this case, if you have a bad AC,
while you might get away with a worse weapon by killing one of your
opponents and breaking out through the gap. (If you have a wand of
teleport, another strategy suggests itself.)

In my book, a good AC is the single most important feature, the weapon
coming in second place (you can replace killing by running away in tough
situations, but you need the AC to survive long enough to run at all).
I have had about fourty characters in NH so far that reached an AC of
-10. Only three of them did not survive, all others ascended (except
one for whom the Book of the Dead was lost irretrievably).

> Remember, a good weapon helps you survive just as well as good armor, in
> a different way.

I would second this, if you replaced "just" by "almost". And this is
true only for combat wombats, the weaker classes will miss often even
with an artifact weapon.

As a low-level character needing both a good weapon and magic
resistance, I would consider wishing for Magicbane, if I did not wish
for GDSM. But that would mostly be for a neutral PC. For arcs, knights
and samurai, the blasting maybe too enervating. But they should wish
for GDSM anyway, since they can get an artifact by dipping a long sword
into a fountain.
--
Klaus Kassner

 

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Klaus Kassner wrote:
>
> For arcs, knights and samurai, the blasting maybe too enervating. But they
> should wish for GDSM anyway, since they can get an artifact by dipping a
> long sword into a fountain.

<nitpick>
For non-neutral archeologists.
</nitpick>

Janis ;-)

 

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Janis Papanagnou schrieb:
> Klaus Kassner wrote:
>
>>
>> For arcs, knights and samurai, the blasting maybe too enervating. But
>> they
>> should wish for GDSM anyway, since they can get an artifact by dipping a
>> long sword into a fountain.
>
>
> <nitpick>
> For non-neutral archeologists.
> </nitpick>
>
> Janis ;-)

Sure . When I played my last archeologist (NH3.1.3), they were still
all lawful.
--
Klaus Kassner