[dnethack] Armor choice

Ron Nazarov

2023-10-18 15:03:40 UTC

Post by Janis Papanagnou
In my dNethack game (playing an elven priest) I collected a lot of
armor from the Elf quest. I'm still not knowing what for all these
armor attributes are good for in practice; "archaic", "dragonhide",
"holy", "warded", besides the already (sort of) known "reflective"
and "magic-resistant". - I mean, yes, some materials are heavier,
some provide a few more defense points, some are resistant against
"environmental" impacts; okay so far. - I still cannot derive (in
practice) the appropriate gear selection.

Dragonhide is a material that provides more protection than
cloth/leather and is inherently fixed. Unlike in other variants,
material bonus is multiplicative rather than additive, so a dragonhide
piece of armour with poor base AC/DR is not much better than a
cloth/leather one. "Holy" and "prayer-warded" are object properties.
Holy armour provides double DR vs holy-haters (such as demons), and holy
weapons do +1x damage vs holy-haters. Gauntlets and boots usually have
both weapon and armour properties, with the weapon property bonus
applying to bare-handed attacks on gauntlets and kicks on boots.
Prayer-warded armour just provides 100% curse resistance, as an amulet
versus curses or prayer-warded wrapping. Archaic is neither a property
nor a material, just a certain type of ordinary armour.

Post by Janis Papanagnou
My priest yet didn't get any dragon scales, no reflection, no MR,
and also no wishes. He got a lot of artifact armor, some stashed
away.
The elven boots (for example) increase my carrying capacity (they
have the hiking boots' property), and the reflective high-elven
plate is very heavy. - Considering the missing stats, weight, and
whatnot; what would be a sensible armor set from all these well
sounding pieces?
# WORN
- a blessed +5 elven mithril-coat (being worn) {20}
- the blessed fireproof +3 Seven League Boots (being worn) {20}

These are jumping boots that provide very fast speed, and also reduce
the cost of consecutive movement actions. They can be invoked to jump
with a 7-tile range and enchanted to +7.

Post by Janis Papanagnou
- a holy +3 prayer-warded dragonhide elven cloak (being worn) {35}
- the blessed fireproof +3 Wrappings of the Sacred Fist (being worn) {1}
- the blessed fireproof +0 Helm of Undeath (being worn) {18}

This provides drain resistance and will lifesave you by permanently
polymorphing you into a death knight with intrinsic unchanging, which is
a bad thing (death knights are slow, unable to pray to holy-holiness
gods, and unable to reliably pray to neutral-holiness gods) but still
better than dying. Note that this happens before all other forms of
life-saving, so if you have another source of life-saving it's probably
best not to wear this. It can also be enchanted to +7.

Post by Janis Papanagnou
- a blessed +2 elven shield (being worn) {30}
- the blessed fireproof +0 Tie-Dye Shirt of Shambhala (being worn) {5}
# MISSING NECESSARY STATS
- a blessed +3 reflective high-elven plate {110}

This is still lighter than dragon scale mail (which is 150 aum), and can
be enchanted to +7. Note that it provides only ordinary reflection, not
dragonbreath reflection as SDSM would, meaning it will not reflect the
breath attacks of dragons, with the exception of disintegration breath
(black dragon's breath).

Post by Janis Papanagnou
- a blessed +0 magic-resistant elven cloak {10}

Magic resistance is important, so I'd wear this until I found another
source of MR and then probably replace it with the holy prayer-warded
dragonhide elven cloak. The Wrappings of the Sacred Fist also provide
curse resistance, so you wouldn't lose that. It can also be enchanted
to +7, as with most elven equipment.

Post by Janis Papanagnou
# ARTIFACTS
- the +0 glass Apotheosis Veil {150}

This is a crystal helm that provides see invisible, drain resistance,
the ability to see in both light and dark, hungerless casting at a -4
int penalty, and fully protects you from brain eating, including from a
star spawn's brain eating attacks (which extra-dimensionally bypass all
other helms). However, it is very heavy and will prevent you from
eating and drinking potions if it is cursed and you are not weldproof
(but this shouldn't be a problem if you have curse resistance). It can
be invoked for enlightenment. As with an ordinary crystal helm, it can
be enchanted to +7.

Post by Janis Papanagnou
- the blessed fireproof +3 Shield of the Resolute Heart {10}

These are gauntlets of dexterity that provide half physical damage and
can be enchanted to +7.

Post by Janis Papanagnou
- the blessed +0 Frost Treads {20}

These are water-walking boots that provide cold resistance, freeze
water/lava underfoot, and +1d8 cold damage to kicks.

Post by Janis Papanagnou
# MAGIC PROPERTIES
- a blessed +3 high-elven helm of brilliance {15}

This is nice: it's lighter than an ordinary helm of brilliance, probably
provides more AC, and can be enchanted to +7.

Post by Janis Papanagnou
- a +0 cloth pair of speed boots {13}

Seven League boots are better.

Post by Janis Papanagnou
- a +0 cloak of invisibility {10}

You can just zap yourself with a wand of make invisible for permanent
intrinsic invisibility, as in vanilla. There is a monster spell that
can remove your intrinsic invisibility, but this doesn't happen very
often so you can just re-zap yourself.

Post by Janis Papanagnou
# DRAGONHIDE MATERIAL
- a blessed +2 dragonhide pair of jackboots {46}
- a +2 dragonhide cloak {35}
- a +0 dragonhide pair of gloves {23}
# HOLY
- a holy +3 elven shield {30}

This is strictly better than your current blessed +2 elven shield.

Post by Janis Papanagnou
# ARCHAIC
- a blessed corrodeproof +3 archaic helm {30}
- a blessed corrodeproof +3 pair of archaic boots {75}
- a blessed +4 golden archaic helm {45}
# CRYSTAL MATERIAL
- a blessed +0 emerald pair of crystal gauntlets {18}
- a blessed +1 emerald crystal plate mail {155}

This is lighter than ordinary crystal plate mail (170 aum) and won't
block spellcasting because it's non-metallic.

Post by Janis Papanagnou
# ENCHANTMENTS AND MORE PROPERTIES
- a blessed corrodeproof +3 bronze roundshield {120}
- a very rotted +0 robe {15}
- a blessed burnt +5 elven cloak {10}
- a blessed +2 dwarvish cloak {10}
- a blessed +1 mithril elven shield {40}
- a blessed +3 pair of elven boots {10}
- a blessed +0 elven cloak {10}
- a blessed +0 pair of elven boots {10}
- a +0 cloth cloak {10}
- a +0 ruffled shirt {5}
- a +0 mithril pair of elven boots {13}
- a blessed +2 pair of elven boots {10}
- a blessed +4 gnomish pointy hat {3}
- a blessed +3 pair of high-elven gauntlets {15}
I may have also included unimportant pieces in the list, because I
cannot tell whether, say, a "ruffled" shirt has some interesting
properties, or whether a "cloth cloak" may have "invisible"/unID'd
properties (or whether it's just a plain thing).

Unless they're fully ID'ed, that's possible, but object properties are
not randomly generated and it's most likely they don't. A ruffled shirt
is a shirt that provides +1 to charisma.