Ancient Domains Of Mystery, forum overview / Spoilers / Boy seeks Paladin Advice
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Fury Unregistered user |
This one is aimed at you LordFred...:) Just started my quest for a paladin ending. I'm assuming they are hack and slash types...any special advice on how to play them? Any great combos with race/starsign? I like starting off armed to the teeth...wow. Fury |
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Sargoth Registered user Bard Last page view: 4950 days, 9 hours, 30 minutes and 16 seconds ago. |
They're not all that hack'n'slash: later on they make good spellcasters. In combination with a missile weapon, they are quite a challange for most monsters you meet down in the dungeons. Some general advice: don't overestimate them. They may start out with some pretty heavy stuff sometimes, but they are still as mortal as any ill-equipped grey elven thief... http://tankefel.blogspot.com/ So far you have only killed one wild cat. |
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LordFrederick Registered user Last page view: 6809 days, 12 hours, 18 minutes and 2 seconds ago. |
I always have a lot to say about paladins =) Starsign: I particularly like Unicorn or Sword. Spellcaster signs like wand or salamander should generally be avoided. Though paladins become formidable casters, they cannot take true advantage of these signs like wizards can. Otherwise, most starsigns are acceptable as paladins are very versatile. Race: I personally find Darkelven Paladins to be the most powerful, due to the skill set at the beginning. Alertness and Find Weakness in particular are good skills that make darkelves worth playing. IMO, trailing in second is a Drakish paladin, with alertness and food preservation. Other elven paladins are doubly trained in dodge, which is also very handy. Elves in particular allow your paladin to start casting useful utility spells and offensive bolts such as magic missile at a much earlier time due to their high learning and mana. Orc and Troll paladins are to generally to be avoided. Paladins are already considered marginal casters, these races push it further down in magical ability. Dwarvish paladins are also worth mentioning as a more hack and slash sort of paladin. These are better to play if your character is born in the month of the book, to help you learn spells since dwarves are mediocre in magical talent. Interesting Facts: I've read on the spoilerwiki that Paladins do double damage with Justifier. If this is indeed true and not just a misleading disabled code segment, pray that your paladin gets crowned with justifier because it is an enourmously powerful artifact. Wizards, druids, necromancers and priests find spellbooks 10x as often as other classes. Paladins find spellbooks 2.5x as often as other classes. Every other class finds spellbooks at an equal rate. This is interesting since paladins seem find spellbooks much more often than other spellreliant classes such as elementalists. The blessed elven chain mail you start out with helps early game survival tremendously. This may be a curse as well as a blessing because with a wizard and a +0 +1 robe, you play carefully knowing your vulnerability. With a paladin, you might overestimate your own PV and run into something nasty. In particular, elven paladins are rather delicate in the beginning. Remember to develop your casting ability ASAP. This is the factor that distinguishes pallys from other fighting classes. While they suffer from no weapon advancement penalties just as same as hacknslashers, they also train in concentration and literacy. These should be maxed to 100 as soon as feasibly possible. Spellbooks of magic missile or other offensive bolts are common and is in no way unreasonable to be read by a low level paladin with maxed lit and conc. Always take Guth'Alak's quest. This should actually go without saying. Never play a chaotic paladin. The DV bonus they get is significant (class power). Lawful paladins get the bonus vs. chaotics... very nice... neutral paladins get the bonus vs. C and L.. very nice... and chaotic paladins get the bonus vs L. There really are not that many Lawful monsters that you will have to face in the game. Almost none, in fact. Waste of an excellent class power to play a C paladin. Paladins are a good choice for Ultra endings. Their 30% Chaos resistance in the end is good for tremendously corrupting melee attacks and the like. I'm not exactly sure how this mechanic works, but if the 30% also applies on the Chaos Plane (which it might not because chaos plane's corruption code is unique) then Paladins are especially good. Its generally always a good idea to go weapon and shield. I know DE paladins in particular start out dual wielding swords. Using a 2 hander also isnt a good idea. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule, the ToTRR and dagger twins come to mind. The bottom line is that Paladins can't match Barbarians in HP: you're not really enough of a tank to take more damage (sacrificing the DV/PV from a shield) in return for dishing out more, nor do they carry the two handed advantage of rangers. So fight weapon/shield as much as possible. |
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Nchurmdaz Registered user Goblin flash mobber Last page view: 5982 days, 13 hours, 44 minutes and 55 seconds ago. |
He-he... Dark Elves are chaotic at start, aren't they? IMO - Drakish paladin, born in the month of Raven kicks ass. He starts with +10sp from starsign, has potential +8 from Athletics, +9 from Quick/Very quick/very-very-very-quick talents. That is, 127 speed are achievable via simple level-upping. But! You'd ask, - why Drakelings? - Dark Elves also qualify! IMO Drakelings have obvious advantages. Drakelings are tougher and stronger, are much more prone to finding that blink dog corpse(+getting additional 5+ potions of cure corruption from druid), and, which is *very* important - spit a trully powerful acid. This spit is a potential life-saver in case you are not playing an archer-like pal, or a first killed rat drops "Hellish Flames" book. As far as I noticed monsters don't shrug off acidic spits - so kill that quickling or doppleganger lord by spitting right into his eye! This can be nicely replaced by "Acid Ball", which you are not guaranteed to find, and which is Wi-dependent. That is, getting started with a Drakeling is easier. Later on, you might eventually find a source of skills (like a magical writing set + scroll of education), and gain "find weakness". ToEF isn't a problem, if you ask me. Just drag along PoEH, and be crowned by the time you get there (that is, remember that your god can give something except pickaxes). And that astonishing speed bonus lasts for quite a long time - I remember entering Dwarftown without hurrying very much and having speed of 170 There's a thing you should be very-very afraid of though - Li-Hon-Kay - a potential 20th level arena opponent...... He killed my pal once... Froze him to 10speed. I realized that he recovers much faster than I can harm him, and I have no tricks left to take him off. My pal would have survived hours of punishment having good cold resistance, but he was trapped. [starts to weep bitterly] Ubi patria ibi bene! [Edited 1 time, last edit on 6/19/2005 at 11:46 (GMT -5) by Nchurmdaz] |
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LordFrederick Registered user Last page view: 6809 days, 12 hours, 18 minutes and 2 seconds ago. |
Matter of taste. Elves have high le and mana for more effective spellcasting. Drakes have better str/to for the early game. Acid Spit is VERY useful, but i find it more so for like... mindcrafters or other classes that are extremely hard to keep alive early game. Yes D Elves start chaotic, but initial game alignment hardly matters. Food Preservation is important. I usually end up wishing for it. |
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Nchurmdaz Registered user Goblin flash mobber Last page view: 5982 days, 13 hours, 44 minutes and 55 seconds ago. |
Why not to wish for 7LB instead, then? :) And, if I'm not mistaken, Dark Elves are as learned as Drakelings, so st+to vs dx+ma dilema remains in the light of attributes, and find weakness vs food preservation. As for High and Gray elves - they are fraile and have poor starting skills. Certainly, Dark Elf vs Drakeling is a matter of taste. I just like the idea of playing a nice reptilian char with two guaranteed nice skills. Ubi patria ibi bene! |
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Fury Unregistered user |
I just finished with a dark elven archer, so I went the drakeling route. Very nice, though i do miss the find weakness. (I usually play orc or dark elf). Having food preservation is golden, esp with the spit ability. Even without scumming my strength is now around 28 or so. I'm finding these guys can do everything...they cast, find lots of spell books, and I've got a nice spear of devestation and longbow up to 7. Finished all the beginning stuff and now just looking for a AoLS for Kelly. Funny sidenote: Ate a kobold caster corpse for pp bonus, thinking i had some curaria mancox and didn't. Was just starting to swear when i thought "hey...don't paladins have some sort of class power..." Goes to show how dumb you can be with a new race/class. I'm liking them...the versatility is nice after playing so many straight melee guys. Thanks for the tips... |
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tongHoAnh Registered user adoomed Last page view: 6621 days, 13 hours, 52 minutes and 12 seconds ago. |
...thinking i had some curaria mancox and didn't... I think TB should allow drakeling spitting their last meal out :) My RL dumpyard: http://www.geocities.com/ceruleannebula/index.html |
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N(MBLNG) Registered user Formerly known as NMBLNG Last page view: 6877 days, 6 minutes and 19 seconds ago. |
I've started a Drakish Paladin, and he's doing rather well. Started out with a mithryl scimitar, and I managed to to the puppy quest and kill the dark druid without much trouble. Thanks to herbalism, I have a To of 24 and my Dex and Wil are catching up. Now I'm trying to get to an altar ASAP to remove the unpleasant effects of accidentaly bashing some karmic lizards... |
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Fury Unregistered user |
Drakish Paladin cruising along nicely...now level 20 and just scumming for AoLS. Finally managed to plant some decent herbs in big room and getting stats up now. Just found a Boomerang of Slaying. (+5, 2d4 + 6) or so. Do Drakelings train these faster? I read in the guide that they are especially proficient with scurgari...does that include boomerangs? (same skill set...) If they do train faster, whats the bonus? Twice as fast? Anyone know? I can't seem to find it in the manual or the guide. Cheers, Fury |
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LordFrederick Registered user Last page view: 6809 days, 12 hours, 18 minutes and 2 seconds ago. |
Sorry to say i don't know if drakelings are extra proficient in boomerangs. Tell you the truth, i never really used scugaris period. Just some more comments: "As far as I noticed monsters don't shrug off acidic spits - so kill that quickling or doppleganger lord by spitting right into his eye!" Its true that monsters do not shrug off acid spit. However, you can certainly miss. The chance to hit a monster with the spit is dependant on a formula incorporating PlayerLevel and PlayerDexterity vs. MonsterDV (as well as a random factor). Thus, it would be very difficult to, for example, hit Filk with the spit at all. This is not to say that acid spit is worthless, in fact i find it to be one of the biggest reasons i play drakelings with harder to keep alive classes. However, in the mid-late game, its worth noting that its pretty easy to get the ability with any race due to the fact that chances are, the exhale sulphur corruption WILL come up. As far as i know, the damage formulas for both spits are equivalent. Another argument against drakelings in general is the possibility of an ogre magus totally wrecking you. I find even with normal characters that ogremaguses can appear in even UD: 1-2, as well as DD: 4+ and in the lower PC. (Drawing from my experiences) Unless i happen to have a ring of cold resistance, my character actually im at work right now ill finish up this post later. i have something to do. |
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Fury Unregistered user |
*shrug* I never use em either, but this guy has been finding boomerangs of slaying and eternium scurgari of returning left right and centre...so it seems like a good time to learn! As to the spit...it's fine early on as a weapon, but later its only use is to boost strength. My natural strength is now 39...no dark elf can do that easily. Though I miss the find weakness, the food preservation/spit combo more than makes up for it. And there is always the BoW which give the equivalent of find weakness (IIRC) while the "of hunting" stuff is not nearly as good as your usual weapon. Couple this with the natural healing bonus...and drakeling paladins are looking mighty sweet >:) Fury...the paladin-noob. |
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Fury Unregistered user |
Just to finish off this thread...YAVP from Sslith the L50 Drakish Paladin! Accidentally got crowned while attempting a pre-crowning (oops) so a standard ending was in the books. Never had much of a complaint throughout the game...found an early RoDS and saved Kelly, had to make two passes at the ToEF (I found you need a -something- of regeneration to make up for the dizzyness, or lots of spenseweed, neither of which i had in my first kick at it) Got to D50 with buckets of rings and PoEX, so tried the RoDS lottery and viola! 19 blessed rings of Djinni summoning! That made the rest of D50 pretty easy. Despite being a mostly-melee guy all game it was magic missile that won me D50...that with some slaying ammo and farsight (i love that spell). I'm working my way through all the classes....next up is a thief! Thanks for the advice all. Fury |