Dump
I have only started playing recently and this char feels like it has potential.
I’ve had a lot of luck with the items so far. Multiple unique enemies (Iceblast saved me), Ring of Flight, Ring of Int+6, Staves, Pale colour etc.
So far I have absolutely no direction for this char though.
The +3 Shortsword at the start made for a short Stabbing stint and my first Choice went into Dex.
Quill Talisman just feels natural for Draconian but should I train Shapeshifting more?
Staff of Fire feels fitting for an Artificer and it’s been strong so far but there is also the Whip of Freezing I’ve found.
Now I’ve got Pale and that +6 Int Ring so maybe Spellcaster? Possibly Fire.
Trouble is: I have no good spells so far. They are all higher level.
Here is the point I’m stuck on:
I found the Temple and most other Shrines (I think) and I feel like my God choice will set this char up for the rest of the Crawl.
If I want to go Caster, Sif Muna is right there and might be my best option.
But I’ve also found the 3 good Gods with their Panic Buttons.
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Quills are only good very early on. I often throw them on if I don’t have any aux slots, but untrained they’re only worth a point or two of damage. I see you’ve trained up shifting a bit, but I wouldn’t go any higher if you haven’t found a next level talisman yet.
As far as casting goes, I’d probably look that direction myself. You’ve got some pretty decent starting spells there with Poisonous Vapours being smite targetable out to a few tiles, Searing Ray giving you a bolt attack, and either Golem or Irradiate being enough to carry you through mid game if you needed to. Golem is a bit gimmicky, but you’ve got a pip of rF so you shouldn’t outright kill yourself with it and irradiate is one of the best spells in the game. L5 isn’t a lot of investment once you get your character going.
If this were my character, my plan would be to get PV and Searing Ray online, get a little more stealth (3) and some fighting, then pursue either Golem or Irradiate.
I don’t know if this is still going on. Most would splat sooner or around Lair.
Pale Draconian is being carried by wands, steam breath and quarterstaff. Your defenses are down and you seem to lean towards spellcasting already. But there is not many fire spells in your library.
So to give a relatively standard answer (if I say so myself) then you could already turn off Shapeshifting and perhaps Evocations too. Turn on Conjurations, pick Vehumet and roll with it?
If you had a Kite shield, Cheibriados could be worth the try. I can’t say anything more I guess.
( oops it was a staff of fire. no quarterstaff )
You should realise the crawl stat and skill systems heavily rewards specialisation. If you have high magic skills and high int (and good spells), you’re strong. If you have high dex and high skill in {one of long blades, ranged weapons, short blades} plus dodging plus stealth, you’re strong. If you have high strength and high skill in (for example) axes you’re probably strong. [Note you always need high Fighting skill to be strong]
Skill XL: | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 |
---------------+-------------------------+-----
Stealth | 1 | 1.4
Evocations | 4 5 6 | 6.5
Fighting | 2 | 2.7
Shapeshifting | 2 3 4 5 | 5.5
Unarmed Combat | 2 | 2.1
Staves | 1 3 4 | 4.7
Fire Magic | 2 3 | 3.3
Spellcasting | 1 2 | 2.7
Short Blades | | 0.2
Dodging | | 2.6
Shields | | 0.9
but training UC and Staves and Fire Magic and Short Blades is never really worth it.
If you’ve committed skills and stats to a strategy, it’s usually worth sticking to it.
Draconians do bend the rules a little bit. Because they don’t wear body armour, they benefit much less from Strength, but they do start with a lot of strength. Overal its balanced, and strenght-based strategies are neither OP nor weak on them. Not wearing body armour also means they can train Stealth even when they use a strenght-based strategy, whereas most characters who rely on strength should not train any Stealth.
Note you don’t have to chose your specialization early.
I like to sometimes play DemonSpawn Gladiator with a short blade, and train only fighting, throwing, dodging, armour, evo and invo until mid-lair. In very rare circumstances you can go for a Int-based strategy starting the game like that, usually you know it’s going to be either Strength or Dex, but it keeps me open to fully commit to the first awesome weapon I find without wasting any skill points.
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