Mist Elf Archers - surprisingly good

[_Ln_]

If you have some morgia (less thsn 10 is enough), one wish for pots of toughness is worth 8 point of To!

Also, dual-wielding shields gives a dynamic penalty (increases with your to-hit) and it's quite savage (unlike what I've originally thought). I've tried blinging challenge just recently and it doesn't seem feasible now in comparison to 1.1.1.

[magpie]

Have wished for potions of toughness - they increased my score to 14 and my potential to 16. Not too shabby!

On an amusing note, (on the way to the ID) I found the iron gauntlets 'Ironfist' for sale in the black market, for 260000 gold.

Of course, I stole them and teleported away (my rationale is that they were probably stolen anyway ), but even with Candle starsign and even with a blessed amulet of rapid healing on, they still hurt to wear! So using them is going to be highly situational. But they're still nice to have.

PS: Will killing the summoned thugs further lower my alignment?

[SirTheta]

Of course, I stole them and teleported away (my rationale is that they were probably stolen anyway ), but even with Candle starsign and even with a blessed amulet of rapid healing on, they still hurt to wear! So using them is going to be highly situational. But they're still nice to have.

Immune to Pain my friend, Immune to Pain.

[_Ln_]

Immune to Pain my friend, Immune to Pain.

Ironfist does 2 points of damage (same as elemental gauntlets) as far as my experience goes.

[grobblewobble]

PS: Will killing the summoned thugs further lower my alignment?

Nope. Robbing the shop probably did curse you.

[SirTheta]

Ironfist does 2 points of damage (same as elemental gauntlets) as far as my experience goes.

Immune to pain definitely negates the damage from elemental gauntlets. As far as I know, it is one point of damage per (external) iron item and that's the only calculation.

[magpie]

Immune to Pain my friend, Immune to Pain.

I considered that. But considering I started with a Toughness of 7, raised it to the maximum of 10, and have only got it to 14 with wished-for potions of toughness - ItP is going to take a while to get to.

If I'm in a position to use the gauntlets to achieve a crowning, I'll probably just do that. The possibility of Sun's Messenger makes me drool, and I'd like to get it pre-ToEF if possible.

[zasvid]

Immune to pain definitely negates the damage from elemental gauntlets. As far as I know, it is one point of damage per (external) iron item and that's the only calculation.

It isn't - (at least some) headgear, armor and weapons deal 2. Of course, weapons are easy to handle in gloves. No crowns of fire (or of leadership) for a Mist Elf, though, even one Immune to Pain.

[SirTheta]

Hm, weird. Guess I've never really (consistently) tried anything apart from amulets and the elemental gauntlets. Maybe it is weight based? But then, I think iron caps only do one point of damage per turn as I recall..

[Xequecal]

In the vein of this topic, I've also found Mist Elf Beastfighters to be incredible. While it's pretty hard to survive to level 5, once you get there the game becomes very easy. Beastfighters, for some reason, actually seem to have a very good ability to learn spells, unlike say Barbarians which can't learn anything. They're normally crippled by the lack of Literacy and Concentration, but ME grants both so you have no problems. If you play with Book starsign and eat Keethrax and the Oracle for Learning in the high 20s/low 30s you can start learning ball spells at like level 13, if you manage to find a spellbook of course. I got ~150 spell knowledge of Ice Ball on the first try from a blessed spellbook at level 13 with Learning of 30. Alertness also trains really fast for ME Beastfighters, usually when you get a skill from race only it trains very slowly, but ME Beastfighters can max Alertness at like level 10 or 11. I still had 2d4 advancement die on the skill when I maxed it. 100 Alertness of course makes it really easy to kill Keethrax at low levels, since his ball spell never hits you.

You get a guaranteed tome of Frost Bolt from the druid quest which, if nothing else, makes the ToEF really easy and lets you dispatch fire/lightning vortices that would otherwise kill your low-hp character from range. Wish for Acid Ball, pump Willpower up to 32 with water orb and herbs and abuse the hell out of 700 base movement cost plus Beastfighter class speed boosts with your ball spell. I abused this to beat the Mana Temple very easily, I just stayed out of a direct line with Nuurag and acid balled him to death.