Newbie questions: corruption, cursed items...

[RndmNumGenerator]

I would suggest playing either draklings or dwarves. Both are very strong and have few drawbacks, where classes like orcs and trolls, while even stronger, suffer penalties that can make the game confusing for a new player. That isn't to say some races are better or worse than others, but dwarves and draklings have more raw durability.

As far as classes go, it depends a lot of race, though some classes can be played with any race:

Drakling Fighters are absolutely devastating in melee.
Gnomish Wizards are more durable than Elvish ones, while still retaining some magical prowess.
Archers of any race are great, just shoot tough monsters and melee weak ones.
Paladins of any race are good as well. They are slightly less durable then classes like Fighter or Barbarian, but retain a lot of magical ability.

[Stormlock]

If traps are giving you trouble, I can suggest two things:

For doors, try to open them from a diagonal in case it's a trap that squishes just in front of it. Also, if you find a locked door and you don't really need to open it, consider just passing on it. There might be another door into the same room, and even if there isn't, there is a LOT of dungeon in ADOM. No need to explore every single cranny, unless you think theres something you want inside, like the down stairs or a shop or altar or something.

Second, unless you have no food or don't have the Healing skill yet, you might as well rest to restore your hp any time you're not at full. The background corruption is very very slight or even non-existant at low levels, so pressing w5 to wait 50 turns while you heal isn't going to matter at all. At higher levels you'll have faster ways of healing anyways. If you start to run low on food doing this, make sure you aren't burdened and don't forget you can eat most monster corpses safely. Orcs are the other other white meat. It's probably worth it to try eating most things once if you're not sure. A few things can be very bad, but most are just food, some just make you throw up, which basically does nothing, and some even give you super powers. But I digress. Rest up and stay at full hp before moving into uncharted areas. Moving through a new corridor with 10 hp is begging to be squished by rock piercers. Figuratively speaking. Maybe.

[Al-Khwarizmi]

Try not to kick doors open if you don't have more than thirty-something HP. A trap can easily deal that much damage. Be careful with doors especially in the UD, it seems to contain more traps than other dungeons.

There are alternative ways to open locked doors, apart from kicking them, although most of them are not guaranteed. The Knock spell is quite common for wizards and opens locked doors without triggering traps. A wand of knocking does more or less the same thing. If you're lucky enough to get the Teleport spell in the early game it can also be useful to get behind doors, although it may require some tries without control. If you throw an anvil or a huge rock (1000-stone rock) at a door, you'll shatter it. You can have a guaranteed anvil by being a weaponsmith, but it's not really a good class for novices... just do it if doors really bother you a lot.

In general, try not to get low on HP. As others have pointed out, you can rest by pressing w5 if necessary, and if you are doing this often try not to be Burdened or you can have food problems: being Burdened (or Strained, etc.) greatly increases your food consumption rate. Try not to explore new areas if low on HP, and especially not to open doors. If you have to do it, be prepared to switch to Coward and run away.

More tips for not being low on HP: always give points to the Healing skill, it improves your HP regeneration rate and it's vital (probably the most important skill in the game, at least for non-spellcasters, and one of the top three or so for spellcasters). You can also use the First Aid skill to get some HP's back from a recent blow, although it's not great. Don't hesitate to use healing potions if you need them, you will find more.

Even more tips for not being low on HP: try to get good armour. In the early game, prioritise PV (the second armour number) over DV (the first). If you're able to get around 10 PV in the early game you will be quite safe from dying from monsters (not so much from traps). If you are a wizard and fighting with spells be a Coward most of the time, it gives you DV and doesn't affect your spellcasting. Always use a shield. Shield + one-handed spear is the safest combination.

[JellySlayer]

I still keep dying way too early, never made it to the chaos cave in the middle. I need more tips on how "not to die" :/ its whether i'm doing great and then a single trap kills me or there are just too many enemies and I die coz I cant get out of there

Play a troll healer. They have probably the highest starting health of any class and regenerate health like crazy, start with a bunch of healing potions and decent armour, and hit like a ton of bricks with their clubs. Probably the easiest race/class for beginners. Try to get food preservation skill up to 60 as early as you can, and you shouldn't have to worry about starving either.

Other suggestions: start the game in the infinite dungeon (far south of Terinyo). The level is randomly regenerated each time you go up or down the stairs. If you run into a monster that you don't like, just run up the stairs and the monster will be gone forever. If you run into an impassable trap door, just run up the stairs and reset the level. Play there until maybe level 6 and have some decent gear and it will make your life a lot easier.

[Sami]

IMO drakish healers are a lot easier than trolls. Drakelings can spit, level up a lot faster and they consume less food than trolls for example. Also regeneration rate is not too much slower than on trolls.

[JellySlayer]

IMO drakish healers are a lot easier than trolls. Drakelings can spit, level up a lot faster and they consume less food than trolls for example. Also regeneration rate is not too much slower than on trolls.

Troll healers have decent dice on Food Preservation and can get it up to 60 within a few levels and 90 not terribly much later, so they should be able to avoid starvation without too much trouble. (Honestly, I think the troll food consumption issue is really overrated by most people... with the ability to eat basically every corpse and good starting food preservation skill, trolls should never be short on food). If you're spitting a lot as a drakeling, you'll be eating more than a troll anyway. Trolls healers also have much higher St and To--and consequently much higher starting health and PV--as well as superior starting gear. In the long game, a drakeling healer might be better, but, in my opinion, very few races are better than trolls if you're only worried about surviving the very early parts of the game.

[Sradac]

I noticed your comment on the small cave to the NW of terinyo. Make note that, Yes the "Small Cave" monsters are much stronger, the small cave is only the first level. in there you will find stairs down to an unremarkable dungeon, and the double monster level no longer applies once you go down there. Though quite unremarkable, there might be a thing or two in there to discover.

Also, I do NOT recommend a troll of any type for a new player. I remembered playing them in the beginning and until I got food understood and under control, they always starved to death. I wouldnt be surprised if you've had a few non-trolls starve to death and trolls have much higher metabolism.

[Sradac]

and for great fun, try a necromancer.

Just as squishy as a wizard, they always start with frost bolt, but they seem to not get as many spells as wizards. But man is it fun having undead slaves pave the way for you!


Another small cave suggestion. I do this EVERY game. Before going anyplace else I enter the small cave, let all the monsters generate, then come back later. It'll be frozen till I return with a level 15 char easily making my way through those "tough" level 3 and 4 monsters. Just got to be quick so no level 30 ones find you as you make your way through.

Edit---

OK so they dont ALWAYS start with frost bolt, but the majority of the time they do.

[TheMightyOne]

Are rangers an easy class to start with? Drarfish ranger for example. From what I understood they are like archers but with better melee skills, correct?

edit: went well untill i ran into two claw bugs... god how i hate them...

[Necropassion]

Rangers are, IMO one of those classes that look great on paper but doesn't turn out so well in spite of this. Ever tried a Druid? They start out with a great offensive spell which scales well with levels, and animals are inherently non-hostile towards them. Makes for a pretty good starting class I think.