Dark-elven warlocks
Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2012 10:36 am
Where do these suckers come from? ZAngband?
Here's the problem: they are level 23 and cast mana bolts. Looking at the latest V code (I presume it's the same in TomeNET), a mana bolt does 50 + 1d(350*mlvl/100) = 50 + 1d80 (!) for a level 23 monster. By comparison, a level 23 player, assuming diving at the same depth as his/her level, will have roughly 230 hps at that time (probably less in case of spellcasters and a little more for pure meleers), which will make them survive two bolts, maybe three.
Not a great deal... but dark-elven warlocks can also confuse characters, and it's rare to have confusion resistance at that point in the game. If they didn't get changed, cure critical wounds will remove the confusion, but only cure a pathetic amount of hps. This means that the player is in trouble if mana bolt comes next...
So the player survived mana bolt and confusion... but now how to kill the bugger? Easy with a ranged attack since they have low hps, but for pure melee characters, trying to land blows on someone that flees from you at +10 speed and keeps casting debilitating spells isn't that easy.
And now that one dark-elven warlock is finally dead after an epic fight... you have to face 10-20 more because they come in large packs!
Strangely, looking at the top 50 killers, dark-elven warlocks only appear 19th. So people tend to avoid them?
Here's the problem: they are level 23 and cast mana bolts. Looking at the latest V code (I presume it's the same in TomeNET), a mana bolt does 50 + 1d(350*mlvl/100) = 50 + 1d80 (!) for a level 23 monster. By comparison, a level 23 player, assuming diving at the same depth as his/her level, will have roughly 230 hps at that time (probably less in case of spellcasters and a little more for pure meleers), which will make them survive two bolts, maybe three.
Not a great deal... but dark-elven warlocks can also confuse characters, and it's rare to have confusion resistance at that point in the game. If they didn't get changed, cure critical wounds will remove the confusion, but only cure a pathetic amount of hps. This means that the player is in trouble if mana bolt comes next...
So the player survived mana bolt and confusion... but now how to kill the bugger? Easy with a ranged attack since they have low hps, but for pure melee characters, trying to land blows on someone that flees from you at +10 speed and keeps casting debilitating spells isn't that easy.
And now that one dark-elven warlock is finally dead after an epic fight... you have to face 10-20 more because they come in large packs!
Strangely, looking at the top 50 killers, dark-elven warlocks only appear 19th. So people tend to avoid them?