Balzac the Archologist made it to the Astral plane, only to be killed by a Soldier Ant! Embarrassing. I usually stick with Archeologists, Healers, and Wizards, with the occasional Monk, Rouge or Samurai. Valkeries are the easiest class, though Samurai come close. Barbarians are a bit easier at very low levels, but they loose ground pretty fast.
Tourists and Knights are usually considered the hardest, though Rangers are probably just as tough.
I usually just leave the damn pet on the first level. I know that’s not tactically sound, but they annoy me.
If you don’t want to use ‘spoilers,’ you can get surprisingly detailed information from the Oracle if you pay for a ‘major consultation.’ Many fortune cookies have useful hints, but a lot have false ones, too.
Food: Monks like Lichens. They’re vegetarians, so they’re used to eating disgusting things. They also get luck penalties for eating any corpse that isn’t an F(ungus), a P(udding), or a b(lob). Most puddings and blobs are acidic, though, and will do damage when you eat them. And most Fungi will make you Hallucinate. So it’s best to stick to real food (food rations are vegitarian) if you can. It’s not a huge penalty, though, so if you’re desperate, dig in.
Honestly, unless you’re desperate for food, lichens don’t really have enough food value to justify carrying that many around. They are good to throw at wild horses, though.
Most monsters can be safely eaten. Jackals, goblins, gnomes, rothes, and orcs are usually the staples of the low-level diet. Bugs of any type, kobolds, snakes (except garter snakes), and things with a poison attack are poisonous, which will both damage you and lower your stats. Most things that just hit you are safe, though.
Remember, you are what you eat. If a monster has a special attack or power, you can usually gain resistance to that attack by eating the monsters corpse, except for acid. Winter Wolf corpses can give you Cold Resistance, for example, and Red Molds can give you Fire Resistance.
The most important resistance at low level is poison resistance. Barbarians, Orcs, and Healers all start with poison resistance, (Thus Humans make better barbarians than Orcs) and Monks get it at 3rd level. (Tourists get it at 20th level, but I’d be shocked if you could make it that high without getting it first) If you don’t get it for free, you can get it by eating Quivering Blobs, Shriekers, or Unicorns. You can also get it from almost any bug or snake corpse, but you’ll almost certainly poison yourself multiple times before getting it. (If you get the message ‘You feel healthy!’ You got it.) This lets you eat pretty much anything, which lets you gain more resistances, and so on. It also protects you from instant-death poison traps and stat loss from poison.
Don’t eat l(eprechauns), n(ymphs), or tengu unless you have Teleport Control. (usually from a ring) They’ll give you ‘teleportitis,’ which makes you randomly teleport every few dozen turns. Doesn’t sound so bad, but it’s INCREDEBLY frustrating.
Eating a tengu can give you Teleport Control, (‘You feel in control of yourself.’) but there’s only a one in three (less if you’re below level 12) chance of getting it. Otherwise, you could get poison resistance, which is good, or teleportitis, which is bad.
Elves can give you sleep resistance. So can homunculi. Obviously, don’t eat elves if you’re an elf, but elves get sleep resistance at fourth level, anyway. Dwarves, Orcs, and Gnomes don’t give you anything, but they’re perfectly edible. Lycanthropes are technically human, so don’t eat them if you’re one. Floating (e)yes can give you sight beyond sight. Giants (H) make you stronger! Don’t eat anything that was undead, though.
Altars: Actually, altars can be converted by sacrificing ANYTHING to them, as long as you haven’t been violating your alignment rules. (killing peaceful things, usually) If it fails, though, you’ll get a small luck penalty. If you HAVE been violating your alignment, you can convert YOURSELF, though, which will make the game unwinnable. (Alignment and Luck are two hidden stats. Alignment will slowly go up as you kill things without breaking rules, luck will slowly reset itself to zero)
You can also pray if you’re starving to death, (at least ‘weak’) or getting your ass kicked.(less than 1/7th HP) If your God is VERY happy, he might help with minor problems (haluciation, blindness, reduced stats due to poison)
Some classes (Knights, Monks, Archeologists, and Samurai) have special honor codes. Samurai get bigger penalties for attacking peaceful creatures and shouldn’t attack sleeping creatures, Monks shouldn’t eat meat, and Archeologists shouldn’t destroy ‘historical’ statues or rob graves. Knights shouldn’t attack sleeping creatures, rob graves, eat when satiated, (gluttony) or attack fleeing creatures. The latter is a real killer, as just because they’re ‘fleeing’ doesn’t mean they aren’t attacking you, especially ones with ranged attacks. As a result, knights are probably the least popular class . . .
Ghosts are REALLY hard to hit. They’re slow, though. Usually you can lure them away, rob the corpse, and go down a level before they can catch you.
There’s a hidden stat with armor as well that’s very important. It’s usually described with ‘#’s, and it reduces the chances of many ‘special attacks’ from hurting you. Things like poison, level drain, lycathropcy, Touch of Death, petrification, and like that. A single #, which you can get from studded leather armor, ring or chain mail, or leather cloaks, will protect you about a third of the time. Two #s, which you get from plate mail, splint mail, or Dwarven, orcish, or Displacement/invisiblity cloaks, will protect you about 66 percent of the time. Three, which you get from Mithral Coats, Robes, elven, oilskin, magic resitance or protection cloaks, protect you about 99.5% of the time.
You know you can improve your weapon proficiencies with #enhance, right?
Scrolls can have different effects if you read them when confused. Enchant weapon, for example, will make your weapon rust/fireproof, instead. It is not recommended you try this with a scroll of genocide, though.
Applying a Unicorn horn can cure poison. #dip-ing them in some potions can have fun effects, as well. They also make dandy weapons for Healers and Archeologists, and Tourists. Enchanting a Worm Tooth can be a pleasant surprise for a Healer, Rouge, or Tourist.
Cockritrice corpses still retain their petrification ability after they’re dead. Don’t pick them up without gloves, and carrying them is very dangerous. Eating them is not recommended.
Let sleeping nymphs lie!
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“You irradiate yourself with pure energy! You die!’”
