Prayers. How often do you use them?

[Vertex007]

I've gone through many different characters in ADOM, from trollish beastfighters to grey elven wizards. Nearly every time I make it far with these characters they are crowned by their deity.
Now I was wondering what to do in spots where praying could help you do things easier/faster, in deep CoC, would you do it? However praying is not vital, you could teleport/run/drink potion.

What do you prefer to do?
Discuss other praying tactics here as well.

[Dorten]

:) I always forget about prayers when they would be the life-savers. Lost a LOT of characters, who could be much more succesful (if not the game winners) to a hunger, or poison... A single prayer could solve this problems...

[Andur]

Well, I tend to use prayers as follows:

-Virtually never if I'm not above the point where I can make holy water. Though, there is an occassional super-last resort healing prayer.

-If I can pray without lowering myself below the holy water point, I tend to use it before using up any potions, since prayer is renewable and extra healings tend to be rarer.

-Though it is nice to have a reserve prayer left if one becomes stunned and is in need of healing.

Teleporting/running is always my preferred method though.

And then, sometimes, I decide to never pray at all during a game, just for the added little bit of challenge.

[Travis Prue]

I usually pray when I'm in dire need of healing (Poisoned with 1 HP for example), or food (starving! and no food >_>)

[ZeroTheBird]

I pray only when i am poisoned/low hp and need to run away.
and i always try to have really high pity just in case.

[Gnomish Healer]

I played Adom for years until I had my first victory recently with a... gnomish healer!
But an interesting thing was that in this game I had to pray only once.. against Srraxxarrakex, because i was tired to teleport me away and heal me with herbs or spell, and finding him a little healed too.
So i think that if a char is powerful, he almost doesn't need to pray at all.

[Macros]

I usually don't use prayers in late game, with two exceptions:

-praying to regenerate mana in mana temple or D50 if I'm playing a spell casting class

-praying for healing on D50 when I'm out of extra/ultra healing potions(I'm not allowed to have water orb here)

[Soppa]

I generally pray only when in low-hp / starving and no other means of survival are available. Also, I tend to pray should I play so recklessly that I get cursed/doomed, of course this means that you need to be close enough to your deity.

[theotherhiveking]

I only pray when im heavily poisoned or starving. I have lost a lot of chars because i forgot that praying solves most of this insues.

[electric_wizard]

I didn't used to pray alot (apart from for crowning) until reasonably recently. Having said that I've always done alot of sacrificing. I was somewhere particularly nasty (ToEF I think) and I thought I was completely screwed till I remembered prayer. I think I was able to get about a dozen complete heals which was enough to clear the tower. I had a fair amount of piety saved up, and I was crowned, but I had no idea I would get away with that many. Since then I've used them alot more freely.

[Sradac]

it depends alot of the situation im in. If I know I have $ to spare to sac, I will use it when im low on health, or if im feeling desperate to uncurse an item I dont like. if there is an altar on a level with a hive? I pray as often as I can lol.

[Grey]

With weak characters it can often be necessary in the early game. After you've built your character up a bit (especially after finding herbs and a good shield) it becomes less relevant. Monsters rarely hit you, and you have enough other methods of healing when they do. Of course remembering to use it in the late game can be vital - when stunned and confused by a doppelganger king for instance. I once relied on it for a potential ultra character though and ended up getting crowned chaotic cause my piety was too high - was very annoyed. Had to settle for OCG cause Khelly wouldn't give me the damned trident.

[Baranor]

I basically avoid praying at all unless absolutely necessary. Basically the only times that it is absolutely necessary is when I'm about to die some horrible, horrible death. Also when I'm trying to get crowned, I pray then.

[KazooKing]

For me, whether or not I pray seems to revolve entirely around how much sleep I've had. If I'm a little deprived, it won't even occur to me that I have prayers available. Or a pack full of wands. Or teleport.

[Shardphoenix]

I always use a prayer when I want a (pre)crowning... Or have read an IBM huge manual.
Otherwise, prayers are next to useless

[Macros]

Otherwise, prayers are next to useless

I can't agree here:). Prayers can save your life in early game, when PC is usually weak. I'm trying to avoid praying in early game, but if I'm forced to(low hp without any way to heal, and without way to escape, or if I'm poisoned before getting poison resistance) I'm praying.

[Dougy]

I tend to use quite a few prayers when going through the fire temple. You can always sac more gold later on and preserve your potions.