TomeNET

(8.1) Preparing the inventory for diving into the dungeon                       
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Depending on your character level you will always want to stock up on certain
items before entering the dungeon. Here are some guidelines for your
inventory:


Beginners (level 1)
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+ Some Rations of Food, one or more Flask of Oil
  Know that there are traps that can empty your stomach or drain the fuel of
  your light. If you don't have supplies then you might be doomed.
+ Potion of Heroism
  because it can approximately double the hitpoints of level 1 characters
  (depending on race/class) for a short period of time as well as greatly
  improve the chance to hit the opponent, which will raise the fighting
  potential for example against enemies like Farmer Maggot's dogs. Even if
  your character has a decent amount of Hit Points, these potions raise your
  fighting abilities a good deal, compare (4.11b).
+ Potion of Cure Light Wounds
  They become useless quickly while you gain some character levels since they
  don't heal very many HP (Hit Points). At the beginning they are very helpful
  however.
+ Scroll of Phase Door
  This one does a short range teleportation, allowing you to escape if you are
  surrounded or get some distance between an enemy and yourself, allowing you
  to shoot him on distance using a ranged weapon. Since Phase Door teleports
  randomly, you might have to read several of them quickly after each other
  until you come out in a good position.
+ Maybe a scroll of Word of Recall
  If read in the dungeon it will far-distance teleport you back to the town.
  This allows you to quickly "dive" deep and gain levels and find items that
  can be sold for good cash, then read Word of Recall to quickly get back home
  with all the loot without having to start an annoying search for the
  staircases leading upwards back to town.


Low level character (up to 15)
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+ Several Rations of Food or Scrolls of Satisfy Hunger, some Flasks of Oil
+ Some Potions of Heroism
+ Some Potions of Cure Serious Wounds / Critical Wounds
  Note that Potions of Cure Wounds also remove certain effects like blindness
  and confusion, depending on the exact potion type (light/serious/critical).
+ Several Scrolls of Phase Door
+ Some Scrolls of Word of Recall
+ Some Scrolls of Identify
  These will allow you to identify unknown items that you may find!
+ Archers might find rods/wands/staves of light useful to create LoS
  (line-of-sight) opportunities for killing monsters from afar down hallways.


Medium level character (up to 25)
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+ Some Flasks of Oil. Replace rations of food with "Scrolls of Satisfy Hunger"
  These will always fully satisfy your hunger and they are not eaten by rot
  jellys ;) Lembas (elvish waybread) are also nice but very rare.
+ Many Potions of Cure Critical Wounds, maybe some Potions of Healing.
+ Some Potions of Berserk Strength (mainly for fighter classes).
  These potions work similar to heroism, but they rise your strength instead
  of your hit chance, allowing you to deal greatly increased damage,
  compare (4.11b).
  Unfortunately they are quite rare. If they are used together with potions
  of speed the result can be devastating.
+ Several Scrolls of Word of Recall
+ Several scrolls of Identify
  Since you will encounter the more nice (or more dangerous..) loot the deeper
  you descend, you will need a bunch of identification scrolls to find out
  what is worth being kept and which items should be thrown away.
+ A potion of Restore Life Levels. It can be very annoying if a monster drains
  your experience (its colour will turn from light green to yellow to indicate
  that it's been drained) and all the monsters you subsequently kill yield
  almost nothing in experience since it's all pouring into refilling the
  drained amount. These potions instantly restore all drained experience!
  (Note that scrolls of Life also restore experience, same as this potion.)
  Most monsters that drain experience are undead and the first ones you will
  probably encounter are liches and vampires. Bloodletter demons drain too.
  A notable low-level monster is the grape jelly. But then again you shouldn't
  fight stationary melee-specialist monsters in melee in the first place..
+ Some Potions of Speed
  These will temporatily boost your global speed (movement/attack/cast) by
  +10. In case you are moving at normal speed this means that your speed is
  doubled, effectively doubling your combat power as well since you can shoot
  and hit twice as fast now. These potions also allow to quickly retreat...
+ a Staff of Teleportation
  This neat baby is your ticket out of most hazard situations where Phase Door
  wouldn't help at all. However keep in mind that staves can be destroyed. So
  if you consider a situation very dangerous and your staff of teleportation
  is suddenly burned to ashes, you should think about reading Word of Recall!
  Unfortunately staves of teleportation are very expensive. Staves can be
  used even while blind or confused!
  It's not a good idea to use staves if your character isn't quite good at
  'Magic Device', press 'C' to check your character screen.
  It's a good idea to try the staff a few times in town before relying on it.
  If needed you could increase your 'Magic Device' skill, see (7.2).
+ You should have found some "Rods of Trap location"
  Keep 2 or 3 of those with you. If you encounter a pit or vault you can
  easily detect all the nasty traps inside. Rods of Door/Stair Location can
  also be helpful.
+ Especially for clearing vaults you might find a staff of light, a wand of
  trap/door destruction and maybe a wand of teleport other useful. However,
  that would be 3 more inventory slots less to pick up loot :)
+ Potions of curing insanity (all types). If you find these, pick them up and
  store them in your house! If you encounter a sanity-blasting monster you will
  want to have these to restore your sanity after the fight.


Higher characters (up to 35)
----------------------------
(If you came this far, good work!)
+ Some Scrolls of Satisfy Hunger or some Lembas if you can find enough. Some
  flasks of oil if your light source needs those.
+ Lots of Potions of Cure Critical Wounds (20..40 for example), if possible
  Potions of Healing instead of cure crits.
+ Some Potions of Berserk Strength (mainly for fighter classes)
+ Several Scrolls of Phase Door
+ Some potions of Restore Life Levels, probably, depending on how often you
  get annoyed by experience drain. If you're fighting a lot of undead, for
  example in the "Paths of the Dead" dungeon, you probably want a bunch of
  these potions.
+ a Rod of Recall
  A rod cannot be destroyed by fire or acid, and you won't have to buy new
  scrolls of WOR since the rod never runs out.
  A rod of recall is especially useful to travel between towns, so you won't
  burn through a lot of scrolls just for visiting all the town stores.
+ Lots of Scrolls of Identify (up to 99!). If you're great at handling magic
  devices, maybe get a Rod of Perception. It does the same thing as a scroll of
  Identify, but you might want one 'of charging' or 'of the istari'.
+ Several Potions of Speed
+ Some Potions of Resistance, since they stack with resistance from items.
  Always quaff these when fighting dragons, demons or hounds.
+ Potions of Healing
  These potions heal you way more than pots of cure critical wounds. However,
  they are more expensive.
+ Maybe rods for support: Trap location, disarming, detection.
+ Some Scrolls of Teleportation.
+ a "Sprig of Athelas"
  This one cures "Black Breath", which you can get infected with if you fight a
  Nazgul (ring wraith)! Normal high undead monsters have a very slim chance too
  to give you Black Breath.
  You can leave the sprig in your house since Black Breath saps your soul very
  slowly, so there should be enough time to finish business in the dungeon and
  recall to town afterwards to eat a sprig. (See (1.3a) for more information
  about Black Breath.)
+ Scrolls of *Remove Curse*. These are expensive in the black market, but are
  sometimes sold in the temple cheaply, so always check the temple when you
  come by. You will want these for getting rid of heavily cursed items, such as
  Nazgul rings of power that you don't use.
+ Potions of curing insanity. If you find these, pick them up and store them in
  your house! If you encounter a sanity-blasting monster you will want to have
  these to restore your sanity after the fight.


Very high characters (36 and above)
-----------------------------------
+ Satisfy Hunger scrolls or Lembas
+ Potions of Healing
+ Potions of Speed, if you don't have magic providing this
+ Potions of Resistance, if you don't have magic providing this
+ Scrolls of Teleportation
+ a Rod of Recall (mainly for travelling between towns).
+ Support rods, such as Trap Location, Detection or Disarming (especially
  useful for clearing vaults).
+ Sprigs of Athelas, scrolls of *Remove Curse*, potions for curing insanity
  (these supplies can be stored in your house, no need to carry them with you).