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Thread: YAVP: S'k'is, the ratling duelist (1.2.0p14)

  1. #1
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    1,467

    Default YAVP: S'k'is, the ratling duelist (1.2.0p14)

    After a drakeling wizard, a troll bard and a gnomish monk, my fourth win has been with S'k'is, a ratling duelist in p14. The game was played on the server, with my traditional no-scumming restrictions (no herb farming, no mass pickpockets, no shop restocking, etc... basically no to anything scummy except for a bit of gambling in the Casino but not much, and without restocking).

    The early game I don't remember much, because I played it several weeks ago. I know that, as all my characters, S'k'is started going to the SMC to get the blanket and then straight through the UD to the HMV. I was quite lucky with Thrundarr's dwarven quests and could get the rewards rather early on, despite the horrible buff to the random monster quests in the latest prereleases. I remember having some close calls at the fight against Nonnak in the dwarven graveyard, that was probably the only time in the early game where S'k'is was in serious danger of death (apart from the UD run). He got crowned with frost immunity (due to me forgetting to put on the AMW) and the Rapier of the Needle.

    During the game he used swords (rapier of the needle) and maces quite a bit, but then he specialized in whips. Why? For roleplaying reasons, and because they're cool. I just wanted to have a whip-wielding duelist. And at the end it wasn't so bad: I ended up doing +201 bonus to hit, 5d2+98 damage (avg 105.5) with my whip of the snake on berserk.

    S'k'is wasn't able to find a wish-granting item or an AoLS to save Khelly (no wish-granting items appeared in the whole game, in fact) so as he wanted to save him, he had to drain pools in Darkforge. One of the last pools gave him the desired wish, after getting rid of dooming once and obtaining perma-invisibility (good, the Arena was already done) and losing fire immunity (not so good). So Khelly was saved.

    Then came the ToEF. At first it was a bit irritating because S'k'is didn't have intrinsic fire resistance (he had lost it by draining pools), and he only had two sources of resistance. He did have a fine ring of regeneration though, so he lost and won 1 HP per turn in the first floors, but he lost more HP than he won in the last floor. In theory, it's not difficult to get fire immunity from corpses in the ToEF, but in this case S'k'is had to kill *a lot* of monsters to get it.

    The intention of S'k'is was to challenge the lowly ACW to a honorable duel, but unfortunately the ACW ignored the gauntlets, so it had to be a dirty fight. First S'k'is tried to melee the wyrm (he didn't have missile weapon skills and the slaying ammo just had no effect), but got confused (he dind't have any confusion resistance items) and rather damaged. So he strategically retreated, came back healed and threw a PoCC. Then the ACW fell easily.

    During the rest of the game, there weren't any more close call moments. S'k'is soon became a beast. He obtained very good items like the ring of regeneration, bracers of resistance (destroyed in the Mana Temple), bracers of toughness, etc.

    The TotHK was not too difficult although he had to take a very conservative approach and lure the king out of the lake due to the absence of confusion-resistance items (this character didn't find a ring of the clear mind until the casino! Has their frequency been toned down or something?). Air temple was easy. The earth temple on the other hand was not easy, due to the buffs (I think it has been buffed more than enough!), but it was a matter of work and S'k'is was never in real danger. The mana temple was actually easier than the earth temple, I got some nasty item destruction from traps but the archmage fell rather soon to melee (managing to drain some stats, though). There was a very nice greater giant vault in the lower CoC that provided Nature's Companion (useful), Scorched Spear and the Shirt of the Saints (not so useful).

    By the way, this character managed not to kill cats and keep the ring of the master cat (awesome for a ratling duelist!) until the end of the game. It's the first melee character where I manage to obtain the ring. I consider this to be harder than winning (I have made it fewer times than winning indeed).

    Reading SoCRs to eliminate the horrible reoccuring mana battery, blot the sun and poison hands corruptions (which appeared like 3 or 4 times each), S'k'is cleared the lower CoC and went to D:50, were he took a very orderly approach to wipe out all the level, including the mighty balors which fell easily to his whip of the snake. Then, the unicorn quest (a little hard to talk to the unicorn, due to the babbling mouth corruption) cleared him of his corruption and allowed him to live a good life back home.

    Worth noting is that, with the ring of the master cat, the whip of the snake and Nature's companion at the same time, plus the good dexterity of ratlings (+ class power), this guy was a fast bastard. He had 169 natural speed. He managed to gather a really good inventory for a ratling indeed.

    The complete memorial file is on the server:

    http://ancardia.uk.to/adom_users/alkhwarizmi/s_k_is.flg

    Some highlights:

    Code:
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     Screenshot
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    
    
            ^^^                                    ^^^         ^^^          ^^^^^
           ^^*^^^^                                ^^^^^^==    ^^^^^        ^^^..^
          ^===""""                               ~~^*^^====   ^^*^^^^^^^^^^^^.@^^
         ===="""~~               &&o&&&&        ~~&&&========="""""""&&^~^^*^.^^
        ^"""""~~~^              ^^&&&&&&&      &&&&&&&&&==""""""""""&&~~~^....^
        """"~~^^*              ^^^^^^^^^^^^&&&&&&&&&""""=""""""""""&&&&&o..~^^^
        """~~~^^^^^^^          ^^^*^"""""""""""""""""""=="""""""""&&&&&&&&&&^^^
         ~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^""""""""""""""""""""=""""""""&&&&&&&&&&&~~^^^
          ^^^^~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^"""""&&&&"""*&&&&""""==""     &&&&&&&&&&~~~^^^^
           ^^^~~~~~~"o""""^^"""""""""&&&&&&&&&......^^^^==      "&&o&&&&~~~~^*^^^
            ^^~~~~"""""""""""""""""&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&.^^*^^=      ""&&&&&&~~~^^^^^^
             ~~~~"""""""""""""""&&&&&&&*&*&&&&&&&&&....^^^^  ="""&&""&&&~~~~~^^^
                """""""""""""""&&&&&&&&&&&&&*&&&&&&&&&.""""""===="""""~~~~  ^^^^^
                    """"""""""&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&""""""==""====""~~~     ^*^
                              &^^^*^^^^&&&&&&&&&&&&&&"""""===""""""""~~~      ^~^
                              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^&&&&&&&&&&""""""=^^"""~^^      ^o^
                               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^+^^^      ^^^
                               ^^^^^^^   ^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    
    S'k'is        St:35  Le:16  Wi:21  Dx:65  To:35  Ch:14  Ap:14  Ma:15  Pe:26 N+
    DV/PV:103/33     H:802(802)    P:133(133)    Exp: 45/16601605   DrCh  Sp: 169
    Blessed Invisible
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                Background Information
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    Name: S'k'is              Race: male Ratling        Class: Duelist
    Eye color: red            Hair color: white         Complexion: brown
    Height: 5'3"              Weight: 145 pounds
    Age: 39 (middle-aged, 26 years of unnatural aging added in) <- Ghosts are a real problem for ratlings.
    Star sign: Candle         Birthday: 14/Candle (day 284 of the year)
    
    
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                      Inventory
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total weight: 7790 stones                Carrying capacity: 10938 stones
    
    He: uncursed eternium cap [+0, +4]                                    [28s]
    Ne: blessed amulet of light                                            [3s]
    Bo: uncursed fine leather armor (named) (+2, +0) [+2, +8] (+15 spd)  [120s]
    Gi: blessed girdle of giant strength [+0, +0] {St+12}                 [30s]
    Cl: uncursed cloak of defense [+5, +0]                                [20s]
    RH: blessed whip of the snake (+0, 5d2+7) {Dx+9} (+9 spd)             [15s]
    LH: -
    RR: blessed ring of regeneration                                       [1s]
    LR: uncursed ring of the master cat [+0, +5] {Dx+16} (+16 spd)         [1s]
    Br: uncursed bracers of toughness [+0, +0] {To+7}                     [10s]
    Ga: uncursed elemental gauntlets (-1, +0) [+0, +3]                    [10s]
    Bo: uncursed adamantium boots [+0, +3]                                [89s]
    MW: blessed long bow of hunting (+6, +5)                              [30s]
    Mi: bundle of 3 uncursed arrows of humanoid slaying (+3, 1d6+1)        [6s]
    Tl: -
    
    
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                        Stuff
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    (...)
       uncursed elven chain mail [+0, +5]                                 [10s]
       uncursed ancient mummy wrapping [+1, +5] {Ap-8}                    [60s]
       uncursed blue dragon scale mail (-1, -4) [-1, +10]                [200s]
       uncursed black dragon scale mail (-2, -4) [-2, +11]               [200s]
       uncursed white dragon scale mail (-2, -4) [-2, +11]               [200s]
       uncursed Shirt of the Saints [+8, +4] {Le+2}                       [20s]
    (...)
       heap of 2 blessed girdles of carrying [+0, +0]                     [30s]
       uncursed girdle of giant strength [+0, +0] {St+12}                 [30s]
    (...)
       uncursed phase dagger (+0, 1d4)                                     [5s]
       blessed lead-filled mace "Big Punch" (+1, 8d5+3) [-6, +0]         [800s] <- Used this a lot. Classy for a dueling, eh?
       uncursed whip of slaughtering (-7, 1d30-2)                         [15s] <- Used this a lot until it got corroded by jellies.
       blessed rapier of the needle (+0, 2d6+10) [+8, +1] {Dx+6} (+6 spd) [20s] <- Used this quite a bit.
       uncursed mithril flail of devastation (+0, 6d4+11)                [120s] <- Didn't use it much. It would be practical, but I preferred to use whips.
       blessed mace of disruption (+4, 2d4+5)                            [100s] <- Used for D:50 ghost lords, together with some undead slaying ammo. Got middle-aged anyway.
       uncursed scorched spear (+2, 3d8+1) [+2, +0]                       [50s] <- Unused.
    (...)
       uncursed scythe of corruption "Moon Sickle" (+6, 10d4+6) [+2, +2]  [70s]
       uncursed quicksilver quarterstaff (+6, 5d3+5) [+3, +0] (+20 spd)   [20s]
       blessed rune-covered trident (+6, 3d12+6) [+4, +4] {Dx+12}         [80s]
    (...)
      blessed scroll of corruption removal                                [2s] <- And also 2 extra SoCR's stashed in the ogre cave.
    (...)
    
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    Weapon Skills
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    Melee weapon           Lvl   Hit   Dam   DV   Level          Required marks
    ---------------------  ---   ---   ---   --   -------------  --------------
    Unarmed fighting         1    +1    +0   +0   basic                58
    Daggers & knives         9    +9    +5   +2   excellent            932
    Clubs & hammers          7    +5    +3   +2   skilled              356
    Maces & flails          15   +18   +12   +6   Grand Mastery
    Swords                  15   +18   +12   +6   Grand Mastery
    Axes                     7    +5    +4   +1   skilled              356
    Whips                   15   +24   +19  +15   Grand Mastery
    Pole arms                1    +1    +0   +0   basic                61
    Twohanded weapons        1    +1    +1   +0   basic                61
    Staves                   1    +1    +0   +1   basic                61
    
    
    Missile weapon         Lvl   Hit   Dam   Ra   Level          Required marks
    ---------------------  ---   ---   ---   --   -------------  --------------
    Slings                   0    +0    +0   +0   unskilled            72
    Bows                     1    +2    +1   +0   basic                55
    Crossbows                0    +0    +0   +0   unskilled            75
    
    
    Shields                Lvl   DV               Level          Required marks
    ---------------------  ---   ---              -------------  --------------
    Shields                  0    +0              unskilled            36
    
    
    Damage caused with your melee weapons:
    --------------------------------------
    Right hand: +123 bonus to hit, 5d2+63 damage
    
    
    Damage caused with your missile weapons:
    ----------------------------------------
    Ammunition: 3, base range: 10, +83 bonus to hit, 1d6+35 damage
    
    
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       Skills
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
      Alertness .................100    (superb)       [+1d5]
      Appraising ................ 74    (great)        [+1d3]
      Athletics .................100    (superb)       [+1d5]
      Backstabbing ..............100    (superb)       [+4d4]
      Climbing .................. 74    (great)        [+1d5]
      Concentration .............100    (superb)       [+1d5]
      Courage ...................100    (superb)       [+1d3]
      Detect item status ........100    (superb)       [+2d4]
      Dodge .....................100    (superb)       [+2d4]
      Find weakness .............100    (superb)       [+2d4]
      First aid .................100    (superb)       [+1d5]
      Haggling .................. 38    (fair)         [+3d4]
      Healing ...................100    (superb)       [+1d5]
      Herbalism ................. 57    (good)         [+1]
      Law ....................... 15    (mediocre)     [+4d5]
      Listening .................100    (superb)       [+1d3]
      Literacy ..................100    (superb)       [+1d3]
      Pick pockets .............. 52    (good)         [+1d5]
      Smithing .................. 33    (fair)         [+1d5]
      Stealth ...................100    (superb)       [+1d5]
      Survival .................. 49    (fair)         [+1d5]
      Swimming .................. 88    (great)        [+1d3]
      Tactics ...................100    (superb)       [+1d5]
      Two weapon combat ......... 40    (fair)         [+1]
    
    
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       Spells
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
       Burning Hands :   197,   8pp     (Effectivity: +0)
       Darkness      :   243,   4pp     (Effectivity: +0)
       Frost Bolt    :    10,  22pp     (Effectivity: +0)
       Identify      :    68,  99pp     (Effectivity: +0)
       Light         :   205,   3pp     (Effectivity: +0)
       Lightning Bolt:    41,  19pp     (Effectivity: +0)
       Magic Missile :   243,   8pp     (Effectivity: +0)
       Remove Curse  :     7,  96pp     (Effectivity: +0)
       Scare Monster :     5,  23pp     (Effectivity: +0)
       Stun Ray      :   168,   8pp     (Effectivity: +0)
       Teleportation :   159,  26pp     (Effectivity: +0)
       Web           :    14,  22pp     (Effectivity: +0)
    
    
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                  His further life:
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    After he leaves the Drakalor Chain he is welcomed by his people with great
    honors. They acknowledge his noble deeds, his valor, his cunning and his
    great skills that helped to prevent the complete destruction of the world he
    knows. He returns to his lands victorious and is hailed as a great leader.
    Eventually he becomes king and rules his subjects with an iron fist for a
    long and peaceful time, allowing his people to prosper and grow.
    
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  His achievements during his adventures:
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    S'k'is, the ratling duelist, saved the world with his brave efforts and
    became a great ruler while saving himself 11 times.
    He scored 18164976 points and advanced to level 45.
    He survived for 0 years, 91 days, 10 hours, 16 minutes and 34 seconds (94795
    turns).
    S'k'is visited 110 places.
    His strength score was modified by +11 during his career.
    His learning score was modified by +5 during his career.
    His willpower score was modified by +11 during his career.
    His dexterity score was modified by +9 during his career.
    His toughness score was modified by +8 during his career.
    His charisma score was modified by +4 during his career.
    His appearance score was modified by +6 during his career.
    His mana score was modified by +5 during his career.
    His perception score was modified by +9 during his career.
    He was unnaturally aged by 26 years.
    He was the champion of the arena.
    He made a little water dragon very happy.
    He adhered to the principles of the Cat Lord and thus rose to great fame.
    He saved Khelavaster from certain death.
    He left the Drakalor Chain after completing his quest and became a great
    leader and famous hero.
    5057 monsters perished under his attacks.
    The following 23 artifacts were generated during his adventure:
      the si
      the scythe of corruption "Moon Sickle"
      the ring of the master cat
      the potion of literacy
      the golden gladius "Death's Sting"
      the Chaos Orb of Elemental Water
      the Chaos Orb of Elemental Air
      the Chaos Orb of Elemental Fire
      the Chaos Orb of Elemental Earth
      the lead-filled mace "Big Punch"
      the scorched spear
      the rune-covered trident
      the sword of Nonnak
      the elemental gauntlets
      the ring of the High Kings
      the crown of science
      the ancient mummy wrapping
      the ankh
      the black torc
      the Shirt of the Saints
      the Chaos Orb of Elemental Mana
      the fine leather armor "Nature's Companion"
      the rapier of the needle
    He possessed the following intrinsics:
      He was fire resistant (also through an item).
      He was poison resistant (also through an item).
      He was cold resistant (also through an item).
      He was acid resistant.
      He was lucky.
      Fate smiled upon him (gained through an item).
      He was sleep resistant.
      He was able to control teleportation.
      He was invisible.
      He was paralyzation resistant.
      He was shock resistant (also through an item).
      He was able to see invisible things (also through an item).
      He was immune to shock attacks (gained through an item).
      He was immune to fire attacks (gained through an item).
      He was immune to ice attacks.
    He had the following talents: Affinity with Whips, Alert, Beast of Burden,
    Careful, Good Shot, Greased Lightning, Keen Shot, Long Stride, Master
    Packager, Miser, Porter, Potent Aura, Quick, Quick Shot, Sixth Sense,
    Treasure Hunter, Very Quick.
    He had a final speed score of 169 (final base speed: 129).
    He was a paragon of his religion.
    He asked for 1 divine intervention.
    He was a holy champion of Balance.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
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    Nicely done. Duelists become super strong late game, from about the point when you finished the tower you become just a total tank, don't you? Early game is relatively challenging but a high level duelist can take on nearly anything in straight melee, even greater balors.
    You steal a scroll labelled HITME. The orc hits you.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2012
    Location
    Cape town, South Africa
    Posts
    1,709

    Default

    Great job. Do you just completely ignore herbs?

    Whip of the snake is awesome, I love that weapon, haven't used it for melee much myself, but the speed bonus is so cool. Doubly so when you have two.
    Last edited by Stingray1; 07-24-2013 at 11:27 AM.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Posts
    1,467

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by grobblewobble View Post
    Nicely done. Duelists become super strong late game, from about the point when you finished the tower you become just a total tank, don't you? Early game is relatively challenging but a high level duelist can take on nearly anything in straight melee, even greater balors.
    Yes, from shortly after the ToEF to the endgame the character was a powerhouse. And everything fell to melee. IIRC I cast no spells at all in this game (I did learn some, but didn't use them), and very seldom used missiles (as can be seen in the weapon marks). All the bosses and all the balors fell to melee, I only used some slaying ammo for ghost lords because I was scared of aging.

    Quote Originally Posted by Stingray1
    Great job. Do you just completely ignore herbs?
    I use herbs, I just don't farm them. If I find herbs in my path, I take them, but I don't wait on purpose for herb patches to regrow. I probably got around 3 stat gains from morgia and 2 from moss collected in this way.

    Quote Originally Posted by Stingray1
    Whip of the snake is awesome, I love that weapon, haven't used it for melee much myself, but the speed bonus is so cool. Doubly so when you have two.
    Yes, and I love extreme combos like whip of the snake + RotMC + speed talents + duelist Dx boni. Pragmatically speaking, it's probably better to have a balanced character, but I like very specialized characters and having high speed is especially fulfilling.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Seattle, WA, USA
    Posts
    186

    Default

    Nice win! Impressive cat avoidance especially.

  6. #6

    Default

    A whip-wielding duelist sounds really stylish; whips of the snake are cool, I just wish they weren't so rare.

    Quote Originally Posted by Al-Khwarizmi
    Then came the ToEF. At first it was a bit irritating because S'k'is didn't have intrinsic fire resistance (he had lost it by draining pools), and he only had two sources of resistance.
    The same happened to me in my last game, quite annoying indeed; I had to keep a close eyes on the HPs and heal myself periodically.

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