How do you get good at ADOM?

[Silfir]

I've never ever had a ghul stun me, and I've only played ADOM 1.1.1, so I guess I have the advantage of clear memories on that. I guess the stunning has been replaced with the paralyzing.

PS: Okay, I should be honest, the first version of ADOM I've played had no talents, so that probably was 1.0.0... I'm still positive that ghuls do not have stunning attacks anymore, though, beyond the ability of every monster to stun you by taking away nearly all your HPs.

[Grey]

Ghuls will never paralyze you if you have decent DV. I'm fairly sure they've paralyzed in all versions... Certainly their stunning is no different from any other monster's.

[spectre]

The stunning effect may be based on the % of your total health that the blow knocked off.

Yep, I remember being paralyzed by ghouls in 1.1.1, and all other versions I played for that matter.
It also fits the d&d canon that ghouls paralyze (and much of adom bestiary is based on this)

[BowenTheKotoc]

The bone is for eating, or healing your minions if you're a necromancer. Maybe you can damage skeletons and then tame them by giving them the bone? Or would that count towards the proof of kindness Jharod needs to teach you about healing? Getting off track, I know, ignore me, I'm mostly talking out loud to myself.

[boxybrownfromaster]

Thanks to everyone who has replied to this thread but it would help if you could answer these questions.

How do you eat herbs and how can you tell what they do?

What does an altar look like?

How do you tame animals?

and, What exactly is the Puppy Quest?

Any response to these questions is helpful. Thanks

[spectre]

[How do you eat herbs and how can you tell what they do?]
Just like all regular food, press 'e' and select your meal. However, some herbs have to be 'U'sed for a desired effect.
Some of the herb names describe their function quite well, like stomafillia, some do not.
The herbs often come in paris, which have opposite efects, and some of this depends on their blessed/cursed status:

stomafillia/stomaceptia - satiates/hungers
curaria mancox/devil's rose - cures/induces disease
alraunia antidote/demon daisy - cures/causes poison
pepper petal/burb root - heals/deals damage
morgia root - trains To & Wi
spenseweed - heals a bit.
moss of mareilon - trains Dex.

[What does an altar look like?]
It's an underscore ' _ ', that comes in white, grey and black, for different alignments.

[How do you tame animals?]
Use sure way is to play an instrument succesfully enough times. (You need an instrument and music skill) It also works on frogs and bugs.
You can also feed them (use common sense here, dogs like bones, cats like fish and rats) but I think that takes a bit too long, the gain insignificant, and the materials are not always at hand.

[and, What exactly is the Puppy Quest?]
It's a quest you receive from the tiny girl in Terinyo (a 't' in slightly different shade of red than the other kids, keep your eyes peeled) which unlocks a new dungeon to the north, where you can search for her missing dog.

[Grey]

Herbs are sometimes founds in the dungeon, and grow according to certain patterns. Not all of them are beneficial, and it's not wise to play around with them unless you know what you're doing. I'd suggest reading section 0.13.6 of the Guidebook to get an idea of how to manage herbs should you find any.

An altar is an underscore '_' - it will be either white, grey or black. These correspond to the different alignments (lawful, neutral or chaotic). If there's an altar on a level you'll normally get the message "You sense a pious aura" at some point. Saccing on the wrong altar can lead to some very harmful side-effects. However saccing to a god of the same alignment as you can lead to some good stuff. The most important thing is that building up piety will let you pray more often (and prayers can get you out of a lot of sticky situations). You can sac gold and items, but the beset thing is live sacs - lure a monster onto an altar and press 'O'. Don't lure neutral animals onto grey altars though, and don't ever step on a black altar when a monster is nearby (they can sac you).

Altars can also be used to identify if an item is blessed, cursed or uncursed - just drop the items on the altar (you need to be the same alignment and have decent piety though). Similarly gods can bless any water you drop on an altar.

Animals can mostly only be tamed by someone with the music skill and a musical instrument. Put the instrument in the tool slot and press 'u' to play it.

The puppy quest is given by the tiny girl in Terinyo. After you get the quest a cave becomes available next to the starting road. It's fairly dangerous, with some tough-hided giant ants on the second level, a huge cavern with lots of monsters on the fifth level, and a vault filled with loads of creatures on the last level (where you find the puppy). You have to get to the bottom within 3 days for the puppy to be alive. A lot of people skip the quest because it's not worth dying over.

[boxybrownfromaster]

thank you grey and spectre

[Sradac]

I've played like 50 games and I haven't been able to live longer than 5 days each time I try. Any advice?

I play 50 games a week sometimes lol =)

Not as much about getting "Good" as its not really a skill based game like twitchy FPS games as much as learning the game mechanics and learning more about it, first time you walk on an ice bridge with over 1000s is a learning experience!

[Sami]

I play 50 games a week sometimes lol =)

Not as much about getting "Good" as its not really a skill based game like twitchy FPS games as much as learning the game mechanics and learning more about it, first time you walk on an ice bridge with over 1000s is a learning experience!

And I have won about 25 games... And the amount of dead characters? No-one knows that, I think it can be counted in tens of thousands. :P

Try to learn a bit from every death: in next games you hopefully can avoid making the same mistake you have already done in some other game. Also save scumming may help to learn some strategies or how to survive from certain situations.