I've been playing ADOM since waaaay back in the day ('97 perhaps?), and I've died in a billion interesting ways while succeeding just once (hurthling barbarian, WoD). This morning, I lost an effective Orc Priest just after visiting Dwarftown - on the level just above DT, his last act was reading a cursed delicate tome that completely drained his life essence (from 123/123/ to -118/123). Upon inspection, it was a Spellbook of Divine Favor. WOW, I wasn't expecting to see something like that so soon! That could have turned out to be a lot more fun that it actually was.
Obviously he was no genius... roughly 12 in INT and MA. But he had plenty of TO and HPs, and book-casting could have been a possibility in the long-run. I sure would have liked trying to get him there!