If I understand your question correctly, you mean what do I avoid if I haven't gotten a certain item/intrinsic yet?
Well personally, I do not
-meet Nonnak without -Cold. But there's the mummy wrapping which I always get right before that on the same trip to the surface.
-get doomed without -Para or else a VERY short way to the next altar and piety already at very close. This applies to eating the oracle (every game for me) and pool sipping (maybe one in five games)
-do the Ice queen area without +Invis and not kill monsters other than the prince there without a ring of fire
-do the dwarven halls without +TCtrl. If not and I have a +Invis item I'll take the forest route (which I despise otherwise). If I lack both I go looking for a blink dog first.
-enter ToEF without -Fire and blanket and don't tackle ACW without -Conf
But I think that's about it for me. I left out items that I'll always have plenty when I need one (such as !ofCurePoison for the Snake) and late game there's nothing missing usually. With these few rules I don't get stuck in the game as there is always a place to go instead first (even more so now with the random dungeons).
gremlin - karmic lizard, dark orc, acid vortex, staring eye - dragon turtle, fairy dragon, ogre lord, minotaur emperor - pit viper, orc butcher - greater mimic, dark elven wizard, carrion crawler, dwarven child - imp - ochre jelly, dark elven archer, king cobra, goodwife - kobold shaman, magebane eye, floating eye, quickling king - giant centipede, hill orc sergeant, mimic hivemind, greater claw bug, brown bear, large gnoll - giant bee queen, giant ant warrior, shadow centipede, kobold