Pools, risk and reward

[JellySlayer]

I rarely drink from pools in early game, the risk is just too great, especially if you play races with short lifespan.

You get better results from pools if you have +Fate, +Luck, so if i really need to drink from a pool i wait till i have +Fate.

Pool effects are not based on character luck, AFAIK.

[ahpla]

Really? I was under the impression that you cant get a wish from a pool while being doomed.

So i guess i made a leap assuming that luck gives better results...?...

[anon123]

The doomed thingy is true. As often as wearing two blessed rings of luck before drinking has been recommended, Luck has no effect on pool effects otherwise (and neither does eye color).

As for the initial question, my views on the matter match Blank4u47's.

[shockeroo]

I normally only poolsip when I can deal with any downsides. That means:

- have curia herbs to cure sickness
- have enough piety to remove curse/doom and know where to find the nearest altar
- have a spare blink dog corpse ready somewhere to get Teleport Control back, or have an alternative source like a ring of teleport control / be a mindcrafter

This is exactly how I play it.

Also I try to avoid it with Orc and Trolls because they can be badly hurt or killed by aging.

[nanomage]

I poolsip in two cases: first if I need a wish for Khelly and haven't obtained one though more conventional means (and at that point I would probably have everything at my disposal to get rid of undesired effects), and second if I find a pool very early in with a character whose prospects are bleak to start with.

[blunk]

I avoid pools and statues.

[hapro]

I don't know if I've been really lucky but I haven't hit the doom statue or the negative alignment statue since before steam release.

[zliplus]

Statue wise, I've recently summoned a dark elf priestess with an early character and been instakilled via paralysis.
As for pools, I just spent a good bajillion turns doomed after sipping in puppy cave with no altar, hiking to dwarftown to realize I don't have enough gold/piety, hiking back to farm herbs/eat oracle/sell to Munxip, etc.
Question though: I have permanent invis and the arena quest (not started at all). Should I try more poolsipping or hope to find a potion of vis? Would one last long enough to do 20 fights?
Intrinstics I have: fire/cold/acid/poison resist, tele/control, invis/see invis, and stun resist. I do have rings of teleport control and spare blink dogs (though back at Munxip).

[Blank4u47]

I've gotten by with only 2 potions of visibility before when a statue got me invis. But I was a wizard with farsight and torches. I also made sure not to pick up the gold as It wasted turns.

[Tyrnyx]

I've gotten by with only 2 potions of visibility before when a statue got me invis. But I was a wizard with farsight and torches. I also made sure not to pick up the gold as It wasted turns.

I've heard that 3 potions of visibility is the magic number for the untorched/farsighted.

I pool sip in the following manor: If I'm a character that can plow the the SC/UD early game with no problem (as on my recent teleporting troll barb) then I'll drink any pool in the UD and suffer the consequences which may include death/dooming then restart. I'm not concerned with high win percentage and I don't need every character to make it - especially those with low time investment. If, however, I have a good character rolling along that is a rarity (a thief, a merchant, etc) then I'll think twice about it. If I have a character like that (weak/has lots of difficulty progressing) then I'll pool sip anyway. Teleportis + teleport control gives me more will to play it out or on the off chance I get a wish double rings of regen is super strong IMHO.

Tl;dr: Risk/Time-invested is the main stat I'm looking at.