Wanting to win! Advice needed.

[Soirana]

WOW.

1. 30/18 dv/pv, t
2. 23 perception, precrowned with TRUE AIM, i've got lvl 8 bows .... Bottom lvl meets a Horrible Dorn Beast, 1 hit paralyzed, -9.

1.30 DV at lv15 is nothing to write home about. Shields are rather overpowered in Adom and by choosing class which does not work with shields you are severely handicapping yourself.

2. Why didn't you shoot that thing on sight?

[Shinae]

If you have a habit meleeing paralysis monster you should never take that Amulet of Free Action off.

I personally love meleeing too, but then there are few monsters that even I won't raise my Justifier vs them. That's what spells, missiles and wand charges are for.

[Blank4u47]

sorry to hear that! But seriously, don't melee some things.

30/18 is sadly not safe, but it doesn't matter with dorn beasts, because they paralyse you the second you attack them, similar to a karmic lizards defense.

My advice? Ditch melee for once, play an archer. Get out of the punch everything habit, and learn to evolve your play style. Melee only will almost never let you win.

[Tyrnyx]

There is a reason the Dorn Beast produces a sound on every step. It's a warning. Take it seriously. Remember: Run away. If it catches up to you there are techniques to deal with that. True Aim would be one. Darkness is another. Spells another.

Never melee: Karmics, doppleganger kings, Dorn Beasts, stone oozes, fancy Liches, and if you can help it mimics. Never trade punches (or if you must use melee use hit and run tactics instead) with: molochs, balors, their greater versions, or the eternal guardian (which I would suggest not fighting at all).

[zliplus]

There is a good reason some people never take their free action off after early game.

[Blasphemous]

Dorns aren't particularly hard hitting monsters so with 30 PV and no -para you should be fine as well.

[Couchfighter]

I rolled a hurthling beastfighter after reading some of the advices here and he actually died to a dorn beast as well. In Rehetep's room. >< First time I've seen one, there. Didn't have free action and I don't think I had enough missile ammo to kill it even if I were to kill the rest of the room off while kiting.

[Blasphemous]

Also, from what I remember, confused dorns aren't as dangerous, being unable to "activate" their special attacks.
This regarding mindcrafters dealing with them.

[zliplus]

You can always leave Rehetep's room - the stairs just move about randomly until Rehetep's dead.

[mjz15]

Playing the same race/class combos over and over again gives you tunnel vision. Fateroll a couple of characters, playing different styles greatly increases your overall gaming skills. Quite a few faterolls will get killed pretty soon, but you might be surprised how well some unusual-sounding race/class combos play.
Also, it might take some pressure off wanting to win so badly.