Yet Another 'What to Wish For?' Thread

[meekrab]

So. My current Gnomish Ranger (dat skillset yo), THunter, survived a straight dive through the SMC/UD/HMV, mostly thanks to finding several PV-enhancing items (adamantium girdle, metal cap +0, +4, mithril ring mail) and a nice adamantium shield.

After shaking off the surprise of seeing a "friendly" Ratling Master Thief in the HMV, he trotted across the landscape and descended the CoC to the Dwarven village, only to find that one of the ordinary-looking rings in his pack was worth roughly 5000 gold pieces to the shopkeeper, Waldenbrook. Astonished, he pulled out his handy-dandy Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and discovered he had stumbled upon an item of ridiculous value that grants a Wish, if prepared correctly!

Speaking practically now, I've never closed the gate. Saving the wish for the late game to make an Ultra feasible is not something I'm concerned about. I want to use this to minimize THunter's chance of premature demise. On the other hand, with Athletics and Herbalism, he already has reasonable stats for a non-spellcaster. 16 PV at level 10 is nothing to sneeze at either, so wishing for stats or red dragon scale mail doesn't seem like the optimal play? I suppose I could wish for bracers of resistance, but I don't even have poison resistance yet. (Though Poison seems to have been toned down? THunter was poisoned twice and survived it both times without divine intervention or a potion, something that almost never happened before.)

Anyway, what would you suggest?

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   #.....#.....#........  ........
   ###...#######........  ......
       ...

THunter       St:15  Le:11  Wi:12  Dx:18  To:21  Ch:11  Ap:12  Ma:13  Pe:16 N=
DV/PV: 43/16   H: 100(100)    P: 26(26)      Exp: 10/20168     D: 11  Sp: 107
Burdened
------------------------------------------------------------------------------


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                            Character Information
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

THunter    St:15  Le:11  Wi:12  Dx:18  To:21  Ch:11  Ap:12  Ma:13  Pe:16  N=
DV/PV: 43/16   H: 100(100)   P: 26(26)   Exp: 10/20168   M: 8060



----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                            Background Information
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: THunter             Race: male Gnome          Class: Ranger
Eye color: light blue     Hair color: white         Complexion: tanned
Height: 3'6"              Weight: 123 pounds
Age: 100 (young)
Star sign: Tree           Birthday: 14/Tree (day 344 of the year)

YOUR HISTORY:
        Your father is a guildmaster. Your family generally is rather
 wealthy and well-known in your home town.
        As a child you had to survive pretty harsh times since your parents
 seemed to have run out of luck. Their wealth was ever-declining and times
 were very hard.
        As a kid you often watched the adult adventurers preparing for new
 exciting journeys. They sparked your imagination.
        As a young adult you had to work a lot to finance your
 apprenticeship. You were often tired and exhausted but all this was
 forgotten, when you finally achieved your goal.
        You decided to become a Ranger.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                Weapon Skills
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Melee weapon           Lvl   Hit   Dam   DV   Level          Required marks
---------------------  ---   ---   ---   --   -------------  --------------
Unarmed fighting         0    +0    +0   +0   unskilled            15
Daggers & knives         2    +2    +0   +0   basic                23
Clubs & hammers          0    +0    +0   +0   unskilled            6
Maces & flails           0    +0    +0   +0   unskilled            15
Swords                   6    +4    +2   +1   skilled              240
Axes                     4    +3    +2   +0   skilled              77
Whips                    0    +0    +0   +0   unskilled            15
Pole arms                5    +5    +2   +4   skilled              123
Twohanded weapons        0    +0    +0   +0   unskilled            15
Staves                   0    +0    +0   +0   unskilled            15

Missile weapon         Lvl   Hit   Dam   Ra   Level          Required marks

---------------------  ---   ---   ---   --   -------------  --------------
Slings                   0    +0    +0   +0   unskilled            7
Bows                     3    +6    +4   +1   basic                20
Crossbows                0    +0    +0   +0   unskilled            6
Thrown axes & hammers    0    +0    +0   +0   unskilled            7
Thrown daggers           0    +0    +0   +0   unskilled            7
Thrown rocks & clubs     0    +0    +0   +0   unskilled            6
Thrown spears            0    +0    +0   +0   unskilled            7
Boomerangs & scurgari    0    +0    +0   +0   unskilled            7

Shields                Lvl   DV               Level          Required marks

---------------------  ---   ---              -------------  --------------
Shields                  7   +14              skilled              445

Damage caused with your melee weapons:
--------------------------------------
Right hand: +16 bonus to hit, 1d8+3 damage

Damage caused with your missile weapons:
----------------------------------------
Ammunition: 3, base range: 4, +16 bonus to hit, 1d6+8 damage






----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                   Skills
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Alertness ................ 57    (good)         [+3d4]
  Archery .................. 43    (fair)         [+3d3]
  Athletics ................ 73    (great)        [+3d3]
  Climbing ................. 49    (fair)         [+4d5]
  Dodge .................... 61    (good)         [+3d3]
  First aid ................ 24    (mediocre)     [+4d4]
  Food preservation ........ 60    (good)         [+4d4]
  Gemology ................. 16    (mediocre)     [+3d3]
  Haggling ................. 22    (mediocre)     [+2d4]
  Healing .................. 71    (great)        [+1d5]
  Herbalism ................ 60    (good)         [+3d5]
  Listening ................ 34    (fair)         [+4d5]
  Literacy .................  8    (poor)         [+3d5]
  Mining ...................  9    (poor)         [+4d5]
  Pick pockets ............. 30    (mediocre)     [+1d5]
  Survival ................. 43    (fair)         [+4d5]
  Swimming ................. 40    (fair)         [+2d4]
  Two weapon combat ........ 76    (great)        [+3d4]
  Ventriloquism ............ 38    (fair)         [+2d4]
  Woodcraft ................ 20    (mediocre)     [+4d5]




----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                  Inventory
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total weight: 1227 stones                Carrying capacity: 1500 stones

Head          : metal cap [+0, +4]                                    [50s]
Neck          : splendid necklace                                      [3s]
Body          : mithril ring mail (-1, -1) [-1, +5]                  [240s]
Girdle        : adamantium girdle [+0, +3]                            [18s]
Cloak         : leather cloak (-1, +0) [+1, +0]                       [40s]
Right Hand    : blessed spear of the void (+1, 1d8)                   [50s]
Left Hand     : medium adamantium shield [+7, +2]                     [72s]
Right Ring    : ring of defense +1                                     [1s]
Left Ring     : -
Bracers       : bracers of toughness [+0, +0] {To+4}                  [10s]
Gauntlets     : -
Boots         : gnomish boots (+1, +0) [+2, +0]                       [10s]
Missile Weapon: short bow (+1, +0)                                    [20s]
Missiles      : bundle of 3 arrows (-1, 1d6+1)                         [6s]
Tool          : -


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    Stuff
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Total weight: 707 stones   Carrying capacity: 1500 stones

Girdles ('[')
   uncursed metal girdle                                              [20s]
Boots ('[')
   uncursed light boots                                               [20s]
Necklaces (''')
   uncursed iron amulet                                                [3s]
One-handed weapons ('(')
   blessed hand axe (+0, 1d6)                                         [50s]
   uncursed dagger (+0, 1d4+3)                                        [10s]
   uncursed broadsword (+0, 1d7+1)                                    [80s]
   cursed short sword (+0, 1d6)                                       [30s]
   spear (+1, 1d8+2)                                                  [50s]
   uncursed spear (+1, 1d8+2)                                         [50s]
Missiles ('*')
   heap of 8 uncursed rocks (+0, 1d4)                                 [40s]
   bundle of 4 uncursed arrows of jelly slaying (+3, 2d4+5)            [8s]
   arrow                                                               [2s]
   arrow                                                               [2s]
   arrow                                                               [2s]
   arrow                                                               [2s]
   arrow                                                               [2s]
   arrow                                                               [2s]
   bundle of 3 arrows                                                  [6s]
   arrow                                                               [2s]
   arrow                                                               [2s]
Tools (']')
   heap of 3 torches                                                  [30s]
   torch                                                              [10s]
   box with flint and steel (8)                                        [5s]
   tinderbox (30)                                                      [3s]
   tinderbox (3)                                                       [3s]
   hexagonal key                                                       [1s]
   round key                                                           [1s]
   square key                                                          [1s]
   uncursed strange item                                              [10s]
Instruments ('{')
   blessed harp                                                       [30s]
Rings ('=')
   uncursed ordinary ring                                              [1s]
   silver ring                                                         [1s]
Wands ('\')
   uncursed teak wand                                                  [3s]
   uncursed wand of paralyzation                                       [3s]
   uncursed wand of paralyzation                                       [3s]
   cursed golden wand                                                  [3s]
   uncursed twisted wand                                               [4s]
   glass wand                                                          [3s]
   silver wand                                                         [4s]
Potions ('!')
   heap of 3 potions of holy water                                    [12s]
   uncursed potion of booze                                            [4s]
   cursed blubbery potion                                              [4s]
   blubbery potion                                                     [4s]
Scrolls ('?')
   heap of 2 scrolls labeled "NADSIL SEETRURA"                         [4s]
   scroll of identify                                                  [2s]
   scroll labeled "KAPOW"                                              [2s]
   scroll labeled "MANNANNANMACLIR"                                    [2s]
   scroll labeled "MUNCH MUNCH"                                        [2s]
   scroll labeled "FROTZ"                                              [2s]
   heap of 2 scrolls labeled "ZTORF"                                   [4s]
Food ('%')
   iron ration                                                       [100s]
   heap of 10 cooked lizards                                          [30s]
   melon                                                              [20s]
Valuables ('$')
   1346 gold pieces                                                   [13s]


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                               Killed Monsters
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

250 monsters perished under his attacks.

The following monsters were vanquished:
      3 bandits
      1 barbarian leader
      2 berserkers
      1 black hurthling
      1 brown bear
      2 bugbears
      1 cave lion
      3 cave lizards
      1 cave tiger
      2 cavemen
      1 chaos plague bearer
      2 chaos rats
      1 chaos sister
     16 corpse fiends
      1 dark elven warrior
      1 dark orc
      3 displacer beasts
      5 fire beetles
      1 fire lizard
      1 floating eye
      1 gargoyle
      1 gelatinous cube
      1 ghul
      2 giant bats
     20 giant bee warriors
      3 giant bee workers
      1 giant centipede
      1 giant frog
      2 giant lizards
      1 giant raccoon
      5 giant rats
      1 giant spider
      1 gnoll
     25 goblins
      3 goblin berserkers
      6 goblin rockthrowers
      4 goblin slavemasters
      1 green slime
      1 gremlin
      1 grizzly bear
      3 harpies
      1 hell hound
      6 hobgoblins
      1 homunculus
      1 huge bat
      2 hyenas
      1 jackal
      1 jackalwere
      4 kobolds
      1 kobold chieftain
      2 kobold shamans
      6 large bats
      4 large kobolds
      3 large orcs
      1 large snake
      1 large spider
      1 leucrotta
      4 lizard men
      4 mimics
      1 ogre
      8 orcs
      3 orc scorchers
     23 owlbears
      4 pit vipers
      1 pixie archer
      6 rats
      2 ratling archers
      2 ratling fencers
      1 ratling thief
      1 ratling warrior
      1 rattlesnake
      1 rust monster
      2 shadows
      1 shadow centipede
      1 silver wolf
      1 skeleton
      2 swordsmen
      1 viper
      1 wererat
      1 werewolf
      2 white worms
      7 wolves



----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                Achievements
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

He survived for 0 years, 6 days, 10 hours, 16 minutes and 58 seconds (8060
turns).
THunter visited 24 places.
His strength score was modified by +3 during his career.
His dexterity score was modified by +2 during his career.
His appearance score was modified by +2 during his career.
His perception score was modified by +1 during his career.

[auricbond]

Personally if I get a wish really early, especially from a pool that forces a decision, and have no higher aspirations I do tend to go for dragonscales, just to secure fire immunity for the tower, plus the excellent pv (Make sure to wish for plural). 16 pv can easily be punched through by the mummy lord, for example, or the graveyard undead that drain stats; taking it up to 24 should make you a fair bit safer.

Although if you were more confident in your ability to survive I'd just say save it, until you see what the rng throws at you and what's needed and what isn't.

[yhal003]

What is your strength potential? Wish for potions of strength can get you up to 8 points (drink at max potential, it will give you 2 points + 2 potential on the top of that), potions of potential strength can get you 9 on average, but you will have to find enough giant corpses.

Rings of regeneration is another alternative. Probably not as useful as RDSM early on, but will last you longer.

Don't worry about resistances, with FP you will get them sooner or later.

[Blasphemous]

Red dragon scale mails is a fine wish though with 16 pv already I don't think it's the best choice.

I see you don't have that many good rings so I would probably wish for rings of regeneration.
Wear both and you pretty much don't need potions of healing or spenseweed.
The rings would of course somewhat increase food consumption but with cooked lizards from arena traders or herbalism and possibly stomafilia somewhere, that's not a big deal.

On the other hand that spear of yours is a pretty lousy weapon and quite insufficient for both the pyramid and graveyard, which I assume you will visit in earnest.
You could wish for eternium two-handed swords for a very powerful melee weapon though at the cost of using a shield.
Playing low DV and high offense chars can be tricky without paralysis resistance so consider that.
You could wish for eternium spears and hope to get one with a nice suffix but that's not granted.

Seven league boots is always a nice wish too, considering the ability to outrun virtually all monsters when you need to bail out of a hot situation.

Girdle of giant strength is a feasible wish; with 12 extra strength, most carry weight problems go away and your attacks are much more powerful.
In case of seven league boots and the girdle, beware of item destruction as those items are quite vulnerable to fire, acid and lightning.
Blessing them and using some blessed scrolls of protection on them increases their chances of survival.
Fire is the most common destructive element so regularly using a ring of ice is not a bad idea.
Both pyramid and graveyard feature many traps.

Finally wishing for tower eternium shields is also a good choice given the shield you are now using.
With at least two tower eternium shields you could wield both on coward in tough situations for insane DV bonus to escape from tough spots.
One shield already grants 13 DV and 4 PV, likely occupying the slot for the rest of the game.

[blunk]

Regarding poison, with the high tougness you have weaker poison wears off fast by itself.
Next time you kill a spider, eat the corpse even if you already are poisoned, it'll wear off in no time.

I assume you're about to do the other Puppy cave and one of carpenter/druid quest.
16 pv is more than enough for that.
More damage is nice.
Long term, go for find weakness , the skill that makes you crit more.
Short term damage, girdle of giant strength.
Short term defence, red dragon scales (you'll generally have similar but maybe not with fire immunity by the time you do toef).
Long term aols (maybe you find one anyway w/o using wish).

Depends some on your playstyle, what you mostly struggle with and so on.

[sweetnothing]

There are several possible choices. First of all, your weapon sucks, therefore you can wish for swords of sharpness. Eternium two-handers are nice too but swords of sharpness would be safer for you.

Second, you do not have fire immunity and you will need it quite soon for Darkforge/ToEF => you could wish for red dragon scale mailes.

IMHO wishing for other stuff is not viable for you at this stage of the game since it could be easily destroyed by fire.

EDIT. If I would be on your place, I would search for a better weapon, preferably eternium something or "of devastation". If I wouldn't find one, I'd wish for swords of sharpness. But this is unlikely, usually it is very possible to find something in vaults/tension rooms. After the weapon if found, I'd wish for red dragon scale mails.

[gym21]

I'd be tempted to go for rings of regeneration, find weakness or, if you think you'll play relatively slowly, the AoLS.

[Jeremiah]

Saving Khelavaster will give the highest reward for a wish, even if you don't plan on doing the the ultra ending. There are a few corruptions you simply don't want to have, those 6 scroll of chaos resistance are a good thing to have. You can find better armor, weapons, ring, just by normal adventuring. Scroll of chaos resistance are something that you can set in a safe place, with no danger of losing them; they are rare drops and 6 of them is more than enough to get you through the rest of the game.

If you are set on the red dragon scale, I would wait until after you run darkforge, as you can find dragon scale armor in there. And if you are going for fire immunity , then wait until after you crown, and see what immunity you get. Personally I think there is plenty of fire resist in the game, that you can easily find enough sources for the tower.

[Jeremiah]

What you really need to do is get some levels on you; run all the easy early dungeons and then see what your gear looks like.

[JellySlayer]

There are several possible choices. First of all, your weapon sucks, therefore you can wish for swords of sharpness. Eternium two-handers are nice too but swords of sharpness would be safer for you.

Maces of destruction are better. They're adamantium so they can't rust or be easily destroyed and damage is about the same.

Saving Khelavaster will give the highest reward for a wish, even if you don't plan on doing the the ultra ending. There are a few corruptions you simply don't want to have, those 6 scroll of chaos resistance are a good thing to have. You can find better armor, weapons, ring, just by normal adventuring. Scroll of chaos resistance are something that you can set in a safe place, with no danger of losing them; they are rare drops and 6 of them is more than enough to get you through the rest of the game.

SoCR aren't as important as they used to be. There's so much corruption removal ingame and background corruption is much less. For a normal ending, the 4 scrolls from the mystic are plenty.