Advice for orc barbarian

[Blitzcrank]

I am in the middle of playing an orc barbarian. I got an eternium halberd pretty early on, got healing by helping Yrrigs, am absolutely close to my neutral deity, and have reached level 12 (high for me) and really don't want to mess it up. I have beat the game twice on story mode, once normal and once as an avatar of law, but my highest level on non-story mode is 17. I was wondering if anyone had some general advice from where to go from here. I've done the SMC, UD, PC (I got a neutral altar on level 6), and VD, but have nto yet entered the caverns of chaos. Though I am probably not good enough, I would like to try and get the ultra ending. My first kill was either a mugger or a beggar, so I am prepared for that. I will probably have to pool-sip in Darkforge to get an AoLS, but it should be fine as long as I have some manner of teleport control to make sure that I don't get teleportitis problems, right? Even if I don't go for the ultra ending, isn't it still useful to save Khelevaster for the item drops? I also was wondering about pre-crowning, if I pre-crown with one god, can I get crowned by another or will I end up running into some kind of trouble? Also, if I do go to darkforge for pool-sipping, what would be a good minimum level?

Thank you for any help you give!

[Grond]

Next steps:
1. Get to dwarftown and do all the quests
2. Do pyramid (optionally before arena quest to hedge against ogre magi boss)
3. Do dwarven graveyard
4. Lots of options past this point - should be strong enough for darkforge, water temple, tomb of the high kings, ice queen quests

A cautionary note on pool-sipping as an orc: aging is a huge concern - two aging sips can be enough to kill your character. Saving Khelavaster is worth it even for non-ultras, but don't kill yourself trying to get a wish.

Precrowning does not restrict the alignments for crowning. New god will probably start out fairly angry, so be careful with your initial sacrifices.

[JellySlayer]

I'd really advise against an ultra for your first win. Gate closer is achievement enough and doesn't require you to do so many ridiculous things.

Saving Khelly gives you a bit of a corruption buffer that basically allows you to take your time in the deep CoC areas. The SoCR aren't really necessary, and none of the other items from Khelly are of particular help to you. If you get the scrolls from the Dwarven Mystic, I definitely wouldn't worry about saving Khelly unless you're going for an ultra. If the Mystic gives you the other stuff... well, it might be worth making more of an effort, especially if you're like me and really can't stand having more than a couple of even moderately annoying corruptions.

[grobblewobble]

Trying to force an ultra is likely going to be a painful way to lose the game. The problem is, even with poolsipping there is a very good chance you'll never find the amulet. And poolsipping is about the best way to get into trouble in ADOM. Not just aging, but sickness, dooming, losing teleport control and gaining teleportitis are all very nasty.

If you insist on sipping, you need to be strong enough to kill steel golems without worry and you need to be prepared for all of the consequences above. That means you need to have

- enough piety to clear dooming and a nearby altar
- a pile of curia mancox
- a blink dog ready to eat in some store
- what Grond said about aging bears repeating, stop immediately after the first aging sip

And again, be prepared that you are likely to get no wish anyway and run out of options to save Khelavaster. Because that happens in many games, no matter how hard you try.

All in all I think aiming for a normal ending first is really the best advice. If you do, you can get crowned right now, which would be a huge help. All of the barbarian crowning gifts are good. It would also mean you can forget about that horrible poolsipping bussiness.

It is best to forget about precrowning as well, it is really tedious and you are likely to get the black tome or something like that. Just crown right away, it is guaranteed to be a huge help.

After that, your highest priority is to gain teleport control and the wand of teleportation. The quests that Grond listed are all very rewarding, but get these as soon as you can.

One more thing, kill all cats at first sight. The cat quest is not worth it.

[Sian]

One more thing, kill all cats at first sight. The cat quest is not worth it.

I wouldn't say not worth it, but it certainly aren't worth to jump through hoops to get done unless you fairly consistently are able to get to the Cat lord ... thats not to say that you should kill all cats (neutral cats should be left alone), but that you shouldn't go out of your way to not kill hostile cats, unless you have a very good, easy and inexpensive way to invalidate them (luring them over arrow/spear traps, luring them into Alarm traps with other monsters nearby, able to lure them into a dead end room with a door and having enough speed (and/or low enough movement energy cost) to consistently outrace them to the door and close it)

[Rick]

Personally, I wouldn't go for an ultra with a melee char.
Saving Khelavaster is always a good deal, but not so important for a normal win, your Orc could finish the game before level 30 anyway. Just crown and get your Vanquisher (or your SkullCrusher, less powerful but can be used with a shield), an amulet of paralization resistance well fixed to your neck, and roll everything in front of you til d:50.
Barbarians become even more powerful if you add 7Lb to the class power of energy cost reduction.