Allow me to introduce myself...

[Cash]

My name is Zachary Cash i am 19, and although i just started playing adom it is already one of my favorite games. Permanent death adds a certain....feel to the game and i cant seem to get enough. My highest levels are a level 13 gnome elementalist and a level 13 gnome wizard. I have problems with enemies being immune to my spells, and if i pick a melee character i run into guys that seem to take little to no damage from my attacks. I could use some advice on what to do about that. Oh yeah and a late merry Christmas!

[Dudley]

Melee.
Try beastfighter. these deal steady damage. They are hard to defend,but you'll get the damage SURE enough. Bet combo being gnomish or dark elven ones.

[flibble]

You might want to practice using 'T'actics. It lets you do more damage with the same attack. (It also increases the risk to yourself, so be careful where and when you use different settings.)

[spectre]

But the question is, are you man of wealth and taste?

Learning to use tactics may be the best thing for you to do. Switching them in mid-combat is a really good way to stay alive.

Apart from that, press W or @ and look at your damage output. Can't really help you unless you post some screenies or log files, which monsters give you problems, in which dungeon, because there's just so many things that can influence damage. Some popular culprits:

(o) Critters in the small dungeon level one increase in experience waaay too fast (it's a feature of the place), so you may have a hard time killing them.
(o) Maybe a slime corroded your weapon, maybe you had it otherwise damage, destroyed even (what? sometimes one doesn't notice in the heat of things :-P)
(o) There is a special room feature in some dungeons that stops damage (but these rooms are really rare).
(o)Some monsters (ants, fire beetles, animated walls) have simply tough armor. Work on your strength, search for good damage weapons, train them up (it adds to damage), use tactics.

Now, regarding spells, the damage is randomized, so in theory there is a chance for it to deal low damage. That is also based on stats and your proficiency with the spells.
Unless the game tells you that the foe shrugs off the spell, just bolt it to death.

Yeah, some more details would help immensly.

[Silfir]

Is it just me or will Dudley just come into any "newbie" thread and recommend playing a beastfighter?

Spell immunity: Monsters can be immune to fire, cold, acid or shock (Lightning spells). The message gotten is "the [creature] resists the (searing flames, cold etc). They cannot, ever, be immune to the Magic Missile spell, however.

Monsters shrugging off bolts can be very misleading. Some monsters are more likely to shrugg off bolts than others, some are very hard to hit at all. It doesn't mean they are immune to the spell, however. If it does hit - and eventually it will - then damage is dealt normally, unless the monster is also immune to the spell.

Keep in mind, in any situation, that Magic Missile can kill any monster in the game, eventually. No exceptions. Even if it is shrugged off nine times out of ten, it will still do damage. Of course, if the creature in question regenerates too quickly, you might need a stroke of luck. Or some potion/wand of poison support.

(Look into using potions and wands for the really harsh fights. Potions of poison, blindness, sickness or confusion, wands of poison, paralyzation, and maybe even webbing or stunning. And don't forget wands of acid, magic missiles, fire, fireballs, cold or lightning either. Case in point: PICK UP ANY WAND OR POTION YOU FIND. Same goes for scrolls, all in all. Except if you know for sure they're useless, like the potion of stun recovery.)

[Al-Khwarizmi]

Which enemies are immune to your spells? Anyway, some tips that might be helpful:

- If you find enemies that shrug off your bolts a lot, try with burning hands, or ball spells if you're lucky enough to have them. Those spells can't be shrugged off although enemies may have immunities to them (like immunity to fire for burning hands).

- There are less enemies immune to acid than to other elements. Also, there are no enemies immune to magic missile AFAIK (there are only enemies who shrug them off a lot). Even if it does less raw damage than other spells, magic missile is arguably the best bolt spell in the game.

- Use utility spells like darkness and web. There are many enemies that don't see in the dark and will be aimless when in the dark. Take advantage of that. Web is also a life saver, hugely underrated spell. If you face, say, steel golems, you can keep them from getting to you for long enough that you will have a good chance to blast them to oblivion with lightning bolts.

- Train missiles, and make good use of slaying ammo, for example construct slaying ammo for the ever annoying (as a wizard) golems, statues and suchlike.

- Flee if necessary, and do so on coward tactics. This gives a speed boost when you are low on HP.

[Cash]

wow @ darkness and web they both help immensly i didnt really expect it. as an elementalist is it worthwhile to train a melee weapon (spear perhaps)?

[spectre]

Backup options are always nice, even better if you end up not using them.
Some may say that the additional DV you get by training spears is irrelevant, but it's better to have than not to have, especially at the beginning.

On the other hand, for a wizard it may be better to see what kinds of artifacts are available, which give the most benefical stat bonuses at the moment and use them. Maybe, say, that Sword of Nonnak bonus is enough to increase your blast spells' radius?

On the other hand, you don't need any skill to wield them if you need them, anyway.

[Silfir]

Higher weapon skills = DV bonus. And casting spells requires two more keypresses than attacking in melee does. For this reason all my spellcasters, or archers for that matter, tend to wield and use a melee weapon during what I call "everyday adventuring". This might be necessitated partially because I refuse to scum for spellbooks, so I tend to view damage spell castings as a precious commodity unless I have thousands from several lucky finds. Plus, slaying weapons and penetration might eventually become necessary to defeat an enemy. Wizards can reasonably expect to find the right spellbooks for any situation even without any scumming methods whatsoever; elementalists, not so much.

I remember with dread a situation when I was fighting a particular foe which was immune to both fire and ice, and realized my elementalist did not have any other spells to attack with. Luckily I was able to make do with poison and acid/lightning wands. Another solution for fighting that particular enemy which I did not have handy was penetration melee weapons. If you happen to find one (a phase dagger or any "of penetration" weapon), by all means make the effort to train yourself in it. If you end up having to use these untrained, you will have enough trouble; no need making it worse by having piddly to-hit and damage with that weapon.

Though there certainly is no reason why you shouldn't go for dual-shielding if you've got the castings or missiles to support it. You have to get lots of training in with your spellcaster to get your polearm skill to a level at which it will surpass the bonus of a 13 DV shield (the endgame standard unless you use smithing or got lucky).

Then there's the willpower thing. Nice-to-know tidbit, elaborating on spectre's hint: 32 Willpower makes ball spells go from boom to BOOBAZONGABOOOOOM. (Subsequent thresholds at which this effect increases are 48, 64, 80, 96, to the best of my knowledge.) Sword of Nonnak gives 5 extra. Good reason to recover it for any spellcaster, just in case that boost will push you over.

[Al-Khwarizmi]

As an elementalist, if you bolt or burn every single rat or kobold that comes your way, you will run out of spell castings faster than you generate them. So, apart from the good reasons mentioned by the above posters, you should probably use melee regularly to save castings. Know the monsters, know which of them are not dangerous, melee them and bolt or burn the rest.