Anyone care to help a newb?

[Lasher]

Hi, everyone. I just joined this forum after downloading ADOM again a few days ago. I have a little experience with roguelikes, but not enough that I do well in them. I don't even know all the commands or keybinds yet.

Anyway, I've managed to create a character that survived both the carpenter quest, and the raider quest, and now I'm not sure what to do. This is the farthest I've gotten, and I'd like my little dwarven fighter not to die now. Any advice? I think he's level 8 or so, but don't know how to check levels. :/

A few more questions as well...

1. How do I get rid of a cursed item?
2. How do I identify items?
3. Spider webs, is there a way to break them before you walk on them? I thought a lit torch might help, but no dice.

Thanks in advance! I hope to keep playing this game and even have a victory once!

[JellySlayer]

There are several ways to get rid of cursed items.

-Dip in holy water. Use the ! command to dip an item, and put in the water. It will become blessed. You can make holy water by dropping regular water on a friendly altar as long as your god is "very pleased" with your character.
-Read a scroll of uncursing. If it is blessed, it will uncurse your entire inventory. Otherwise, it will uncurse one item. If it is cursed, it will curse one item.
-Cursed weapons can also be removed from a helpful ratling fencer, duelist, or master swordsman, who will disarm you quite frequently.
-If you drop all of your gear except a cursed item, you can stand under an acid trap and press Ctrl-T to activate the trap until it is destroyed. Watch your HP while you do this...
-The best way to avoid cursed gear is not to put them on in the first place. If you play a priest, you will have the Detect Item Status skill that will tell you which items are cursed. Dropping items on a friendly altar will also show you their status.
-If your god likes you, you can pray and they will sometimes uncurse something (make sure you're full HP/PP).
-Alternatively, you can drop all of your useful gear, and pray many times. Eventually your god will get so mad that he will destroy all of your worn equipment.

Identification depends on the item:
-Easiest way is to read a scroll of identification. A blessed scroll will identify ALL of your items. Uncursed will identify all items of one type (rings, etc.). Cursed will identify one item.
-Weapons can be ided by equipping them. Obviously, if its cursed, you're stuck with it. But if you can identify status (eg. by an altar), you can safely ID all uncursed or blessed weapons. Alternately, if you find one of the disarming monsters I mentioned, switch to coward and equip-ID all of your weapons.
-Most armor can be identified by wearing it as well. Armor is harder to get rid of though, so if you can't identify status, equip-ID is probably a bad idea unless you are reasonably certain that even if the item is cursed, it's still better than what you have. Also note that wearing some types of cursed armor may prevent you from wearing other types of items. For example, if your armor is [-3,+5] chainmail, equipping clothes is a bad idea, because most clothes are [0,0]. OTOH, if you have [0,0] clothes, equipping chainmail is a good idea, because even if it is cursed, it's still probably better than what you have. Be very careful with (10s) gauntlets. These can be the super-annoying gauntlets of peace, which are auto-cursing. I would never suggest equipping gauntlets of this weight, even if you know they are uncursed from an altar.
-Scrolls can be identified by reading them. Early in the game, this is normally safe--only a few scrolls are harmful, and only one of these (item destruction) is particularly common. Since identify scrolls happen to be one of the most common scrolls, this can be a pretty profitable way to go.
-Some wands can be identified by zapping them. To be safe, you may want to test them in a wilderness square where you won't accidentally fry yourself with ball lightning or something.
-Some potions can be identified by drinking them. I don't recommend this unless you're desperate. Potion that cause poison or sickness are somewhat common, as are potions of exchange which can really screw up your character. Better to wait until you've got a scroll of ID.
-If you make it to Dwarftown, there is a quest there that will identify all of your gear OR give you a potion of literacy, if you are illiterate. There's also a guaranteed altar there. Usually getting to DT takes care of all of your early-game ID problems.
-If you sell items unidentified items to a shop, eventually the shopkeeper will ID them and you can buy them back. Price will be inflated greatly though. Shops can also provide a handy way of determining status. If you have 3 orcish spears, for example, and the shoppie offers 50g, 80g, and 100g for them, then the 50g one is probably cursed, and the 100g one is probably blessed. It could also be that the 100g one is uncursed or cursed but has better stats or modifiers, though. Particularly true if there's a large price difference. If it's 50g, 80g, and 700g, the 700g one is probably pretty good.
-I will also add that you should pay attention to the weights of items. This will tell you something about their quality or type (sometimes). For example, there is only one kind of boots that weigh 30s, only one sword that is 35s. Lighter weapons or armor may indicate higher metals.

Spider webs can be broken using fire spells such as fire bolt. If you have high strength, you will break through them more quickly. Or get a monster to break them for you.

[edit]I've bolded where it shows your level.

Veto          St:41  Le:12  Wi:22  Dx:23  To:33  Ch: 7  Ap:17  Ma:16  Pe:21 L+
DV/PV: 62/50   H: 860(860)    P: 150(150)    Exp: 44/19123206   DrCh  Sp: 124

[Silfir]

It takes a bit more than character level 8 for a ratling duelist to be helpful rather than dangerous, in my experience.

The trick with scrolls is that since scrolls of identify are significantly more common than others, it usually ends up the highest stack once you've collected like twenty of them.

[JellySlayer]

True, a fencer is probably best for a level 8. A master swordsman is probably safe if your PV is decent.

[Lasher]

Thanks for the fast and helpful reply! Fortunately my precious little dwarf does not have any cursed items on him yet! But it is a problem I get a lot. Right now I've just entered a forbidding(?) cave. The monsters are pretty easy so far, and nothing I haven't seen before. I've explored most of the overworld map. Some places I can tell In shouldn't visit yet. (The pitch black cave, a pyramid that won't let me in, a tower made of fire....etc...)

Anyways thanks again for the tips. Is it alright if I post any future questions in this thread? I don't like to clutter up forums. Here's to hoping I finally save the world!

[JellySlayer]

Whichever you prefer. The forums don't move very fast these days, so either way is probably fine IMHO.

Just so we know, how do you feel about spoilers? Most threads in these forums you should assume are extremely spoily, so if you want to figure stuff out on your own and don't want to be spoiled too much, I'd suggest you say so.

[Lasher]

I don't mind them too much. I certainly appreciate the tips that say "By the way don't go to ______ without bringing a _____ or you're dead meat."

My little Dwarf is level 9 now and has finished exploring the forbidden cave. Is there a quest there or something? It went down to level 4 then the only way to go was back up. I think I'll investigate the "long corridor"(?) dungeon now. I also found some ruins of some sort. Though, the ghosts there told me to come back later. Did I miss a quest? A barbarian in some grove told me pretty much the same thing.

Thanks in advance!

[Silfir]

Just a heads-up, I'm pretty sure the forboding caves go way farther than four levels down. Have you looked for secret doors?

The "long and non-descript tunnel" might be the most dangerous of the dungeons that you can actually enter from the start of the game, so I wouldn't risk it. I really recommend trying the forboding cave entrance again, and possibly double check other dungeons that you feel ended too soon. Some others have lower level limits, that's why you were chased away. You didn't miss a quest, you're too early. The old barbarian is similar; if he's telling you to "come back when you're less chicken and more hero", you need to come back when you have proven your heroism. (Which you do by killing things, not necessarily in a heroic fashion, mind you.)

[anon123]

I don't mind them too much. I certainly appreciate the tips that say "By the way don't go to ______ without bringing a _____ or you're dead meat."

You might wish to read the Guidebook (located at adomgb.info) and Wiki (ancardia.wikia.com), then. They will answer many of those questions, at the cost of ruining the fun of finding the answers yourself.

My little Dwarf is level 9 now and has finished exploring the forbidden cave. Is there a quest there or something? It went down to level 4 then the only way to go was back up.

If the description was "a forbidding cave leading into the depths of the world", you're at the main dungeon. Keep on reading because it certainly has more than 4 levels

When you can't find a down staircase, try the following: kick the walls of every room until you get the message "You really hurt your foot kicking the wall!". The "really" means there's a secret door where you kicked. It could be on any wall tile, which often makes the search frustrating, but they're located right next to a corner, or in the middle of a wall more often than not. You can 's'earch that spot until the door shows up, or keep on kicking to knock it down. And about doors, it's safer to kick them diagonally rather than standing in front of them. You'll evade a couple of nasty traps that way.

Of course, not all dungeons have the same amount of levels, and in some you'll never find a down staircase simply because you've reached the end.

I think I'll investigate the "long corridor"(?) dungeon now.

For the record, right next to the experience display JellySlayer highlighted for you above, there's a small codename that indicates where you're located, for example "SMC" or "D: 16". You can post that instead of makeshift nicknames, and we'll know exactly which place you're talking about

I also found some ruins of some sort. Though, the ghosts there told me to come back later. Did I miss a quest?

You didn't miss any "official" quest, but your fighter is now forever barred from entering them, because the check to open that place is only made when you create your character. You need to generate at least 100 characters (or edit a file in your ADOM directory) before the game will let you pass. By all means, those ruins are not a safe place. If a PC like yours were to enter them right now, he'd be shredded to pieces shortly. Even level 50 characters can have a hard time.

Anyway, if you're new to roguelikes, your first 100 deaths will come pretty soon

[Lasher]

Thanks for all the tips! Yeah, I've been kicking down doors diagonally lol. One of my characters found a master thief, and I assume thieves could pick the locks on those doors, but I just kick them down and hope they drop rocks instead of exploding.

Is there any way to disarm/detect traps? I've had a few chars with the detect traps skill, but I don't know how to use it.

And I'll definitely be going through 100 chars real fast. So many possibilities! Not to mention my chars are lucky to live half an hour, tops.

Oh! And one last thing, what the hell am I sposed to do about Cats? If I can't teleport, and they're faster than me... Sometimes if I'm REALLY lucky I can run back a few levels of a dungeon to a trap of some kind to get away from them, but it's frustrating! My poor little dwarf kicked one to try and make some space and it died instantly! Thought a cave lion would be stronger than that lol.

Thanks for all the tips! BTW, is that screeny up there just a screenshot? I thought maybe I could take some now and then to help inform ppl of my progress if they're interested.