the case of the chaotic necromancer

[Jack the Ripper]

It's a good thing TB never implemented a shadow, otherwise someone would always be following you. Imagine the paranoia, when playing a weakling char

[reich]

How much gold will it take? 'cause I just bought some spellbook at the black market and only have like 200 gps. Also, do I have to pick up one gold piece at a time and sacrifice it, or I can have the whole heap with me? Won't it turn to dust if the god gets angry then? I hope it helps I had no relations with any gods until now with this character whatsoever.

I think I'll try to get neutral, to get Healing and other benefits, like a coaligned altar in the Dwarftown. But I am also considering to rob Barnabas' shop - he does have a Cure Serious Wounds spellbook there, along with a few others, like Magic Map. I have both invisibility and teleport, so this should be easy.

Do you think it's even viable to try to beat the game without healing skill, only magic/potions and the like?

[grobblewobble]

First, it will cost you very little money to convert if you sac 1 GP at a time, 200 GP is much more then you even need for this.

Second, if you keep the gold in your inventory it is save, only your equipped items could possibly be at risk of destruction. In fact, as you say you didn't bother your gods much yet (no prayers yet, right?) even that seems unlikely.

Third, please do not rob Barnabas! Yes, you can do it, but then Barnabas will (probably) be hostile, thugs are summoned, and you are forced to flee the town. Also you may be doomed/cursed if your alignment is neutral at this point. If you want to train with Yergius later, you have to deal with an angry shopkeeper.

Here is a better idea. Go to the arena and do 19 out of 20 quests. This should net you about 5000-9000 gold or so, IIRC. Should be enough to buy the book I think, and you probably have some left to spend on training with Yergius.

[Silfir]

Find herbs.

[MrNiceguy]

... I thought doing the Village dungeon would be a cakewalk, but then I realized it was pointless, since I'm chaotic and the healer won't teach me anything! The Chaotic way of geting the skill is closed, because I already killed the crime lord. I actually did it in order to move towards N, but it proved to be too little, and the damned amulet of law will rather kill me without healing than help me improve alignement.

Doing the village quest is in itself a lawful act, and provides two lawful boosts - one when Yriggs is healed, and one when talking to the village elder afterward. I've had characters that were C when I started, and after speaking to the elder, alignment had risen enough that I could go back and learn healing. Probably won't be enough for a DE Necro, but you never know.

[reich]

Doing the village quest is in itself a lawful act, and provides two lawful boosts - one when Yriggs is healed, and one when talking to the village elder afterward. I've had characters that were C when I started, and after speaking to the elder, alignment had risen enough that I could go back and learn healing. Probably won't be enough for a DE Necro, but you never know.

To learn Healing, you have to 'prove your ability to exert mercy'. I think you need to do this while at least Neutral, otherwise Jharod will only say 'Even someone like you deserves mercy'. If I change alignement *after* saving the carpenter there won't be any way left to prove that I can be merciful. So that's not an option.

Find herbs.

What for?

[Silfir]

Spenseweed or pepper petals. They should provide enough healing to convert using the amulet. Sacrificing 1 gold at a time at a neutral altar should work too, however; just be sure to wear only crap equipment while doing it. You can probably enter the SMC using Invisibility and check the UD for herbs.

You can save the carpenter freely while chaotic, as far as I know, you only have to be neutral to actually receive the reward. Jharod should remember.

Do you have a scroll of balance? How far away are you?

[reich]

You can save the carpenter freely while chaotic, as far as I know, you only have to be neutral to actually receive the reward. Jharod should remember.

Are you 100% positive about this?

My herbalism is pretty low for now, so I woulnd't be able to make much of the herbs anyway. No way of either identyfying or uncursing.

I am at the boring cave entrance, no amulet of balance.

[Jack the Ripper]

I hope it helps I had no relations with any gods until now with this character whatsoever.

I-DID-NOT-HAVE-ANY-RELATIONS-WITH-THAT-GOD! Sounds like Bill Clinton to me .

Anyhow, on to serious things. Firstly, the books at Barnabas: place them on a square near the door, not one of those on which the shopkeepers retreat to let people enter their shops, because he'll move them from there. Drop books, exit shop, move so as not to see the shopkeeper, which means 1 step from exit, cast invis on yourself, enter and try picking up the books. Most shopkeepers take a few turns until they notice you, so pick them up in order of preference using the , key. Be very careful about one thing, though: sometimes the shopkeeper will detect an invisible PC picking up stuff, give the warning about not stealing, the item will appear as unpaid in the inventory, but the shoppy won't move to the door to block you. DO NOT exit the shop in this situation, because he'll immediately summon thugs/muscular dwarves.

As far as herbs are concerned, repeatedly apply herbalism onto a bush until you've identified what's in it and its status. Bear in mind that a pepper petal will heal you when eaten, regardless of b/u/c status. Just the quantity differs. Morgia roots train you just as much regardless of their status. It's moss of mareilon that really NEEDS to not be cursed, but you can work that one out pretty easily if you've got big enough piles of b/u/c moss. Just cycle them through the tool slot. If you can't remove it, that's the cursed pack. If you can, it's b/u , so use it well . Beware that spenseweed and morgia are the only herbs that ADOM will offer to put in your tool slot. Be careful not to overpick a bush. You can safely pluck a herb while the bush is 'full of blossoms' or 'strong', when it's 'withered' it's more of a risk. 2*2 patterns of herbs work best, and will grow back if you accidentally plucked ONLY one bush to its herb-ey death

[Silfir]

Let's say I'm 99% positive. It's not like it's the last thing left to try if you don't quite trust me completely on this though...

Even with a low Herbalism score you would still get plenty of uncursed and the occasional blessed herb, and you can safely "identify" them by locating them on the map - plus, some will get identified by picking anyway, and at least the "u"sable herbs can be safely identified by using - the worst that can happen is maybe one lost point of dexterity from using one cursed moss. Of course, the problem with herbs is that you might find none except big room ones, and the big room can become hairy for you...

SCROLL of balance - it should tell you how many black stones you still have left. Not sure at what number of black stones you would start being NC again, but it should give you orientation.