Drat. That should be “what’re the first things”.
Ooh, one last thing: Magic Resistance is your friend. Unless you’re a wizard (in which case you have a Cloak of Magic Resistance), find a way to obtain this ability ASAP. It’s generally not available early on, though.
So, my latest character, a Valkyrie, got killed during a stand-by-alter/wait/kill/offer/repeat routine.
How should I prepare for such a routine? How tough should I be? Is praying to alleviate hunger good, or does that reduce the likelihood that your God is going to give you a weapon? If I’m lawful, should I just go for Excalibur instead of trying to get a superweapon?
All right, how are all you people becoming elves? I downloaded the latest version (3.4.2) of Nethack from the Nethack site, and the only races it allows are humans, gnomes, and dwarves. At the moment my preference is a dwarven archaeologist (not that I’ve gotten far enough for it to matter much), but I’d still like to know why the Elf option isn’t there because I do like having all the bells and whistles. Or are you elves playing a Nethack-like game, as opposed to plain ol’ Nethack?
You’re not picking the right player classes.
In Vanilla Nethack (as of 3.4.2) Elves can be Rangers, Wizards, Priests… Possibly one more class, but I’m drawing a blank. Rogues?
Certain classes are only available to certain races. Knights are always human, as are Tourists. It’s a throwback (or so it feels) to oldschool AD&D and similar games, where humans are the only race that can choose every possible class.
Since you pick the profession first, you’ll have to choose one of the jobs that elves can be: Ranger, Priest, or Wizard. I use the NetHackW (Yes, I’m a filthy, filthy tiles user. Nerts to you.), and the menu lets you see what races are allowed by each job.
I use NetHackW, also, BraheSilver :D. I especially like that I can have the character “look” like me (i.e., it can use the dwarf icon to represent me rather than a human one). Somehow I missed the bit telling me that your class effectively affects your choice of race, if only because you choose it first. Thanks for the info!
Latest lesson learned: Rub all lamps. Just in case.
My latest lessons learned:
Monks kick ass.
No matter how you lose your pet, your god will be pissed, even if you aren’t on the same floor because the dummy fell through a trap door or something.
I’m still trying to figure out if gaining intrinsics such as telepathy are worth angering the god for, since monks are supposed to be vegetarian.
I’m also supposed to be doing homework.
Thanks for the shopping advice again! I just had my weak, blinded level 9 wizard killed by a raven. A Freaking Raven!
My biggest problem in the game seems to be finding enough food. I tend to eat corpses as soon as I find them, so that I don’t suffer from food poisoning. Is there a good technique for keeping a steady supply of food?
Daniel
Left Hand of Dorkness, I’m still a newb but from what I’ve seen for the most part once you kill off the beasties on a given level the “replacement rate” is fairly low and you may have to go to the next level to find more things to kill/eat. Also, if you find a tining kit you can “tin” or can a corps so it stays edible much longer.
OK, now my question, I’ve read on a spoiler site that a blessed wand of enlightenment will raise your int. and wisdom. I have one and zapped myself a few times and only got the typical “see your atributes” effect and no stat increase. Have I been misinformed about this wand or am i doing something wrong? Are there any other ways of increasing wisdom?
Thanks 
I think that’s just a matter of personal preference. On the one hand, the penalty for a monk who eats meat is actually not that serious: it doesn’t actually anger your god, it just makes you less fervently aligned. So while eating meat continuously would be bad, eating meat occasionally is managable. On the other hand, monks eventually get all sorts of instrinsics naturally, including “warning”, which is sort of a poor man’s telepathy. So I think it comes down to whether or not you’re deliberately trying to ascend a vegetarian or vegan character, and whether or not you try to “role-play” within the game.
Plus, if you pray and sacrifice enough, you can get your god to grant telepathy. True, it’s a lot harder than just eating a floating eye, but it works and keeps you in character as a monk.
Well, it’s hard to screw up zapping yourself with a wand, so I’d suggest that you were misinformed I myself have read that a blessed potion of enlightenment will have the effect you describe, but not a blessed wand. A wand will still at least exercise your wisdom, which can cause it to increase eventually but not instantly.
Lots of things will exercise (or abuse) your wisdom but the only ways I know of to increase it instantly are blessed potions of enlightenment, potions of gain ability (preferably blessed), and helms of brilliance.
Umph, I just ate a couple of Tengus and got a bad case of teleportitis. Again.
Keep at it. The RNG (Random Number Generator/Random Nethack Gods) is toying with you. There’s a 1 in 3 chance (I think) that a given Tengu meal will give you teleport control/teleportitus/nothing much.
There’s a ring that’ll give you teleport control too, if you can find one.
A li’l ole bump o’ the thread, just to say:
I HAVE ASCENDED
[sub]Well, not me, it was actually Sir Snidely, the human knight.[/sub]
And after slogging through the elemental plane of water, I may never do it again. Yeesh, what a search.
Congratulations, Sir Snidely!
What, you’re not gonna post your kills list? 