Powerdrive 1997 February/POWERDRIVE0297.ISO/share/rollen/nethack/info/classes

Text File | 1994-11-04 | 9.3 KB | 203 lines

                    Which class should I (not) play?
                   ==================================

              by Joshua John Buergel ([e-mail]).


Picking the right character and playing the character in an appropriate
way is one of the best ways to make Nethack easier on a character just
starting out. So, to this end, here is my view of the characters and
how easy they are to play as well as how to play them.


ARCHAEOLOGISTS: Archaeologists are somewhat difficult to play given
their starting statistics and their starting equipment. Starting with
intrinsic speed allows them to choose their battle much of the time,
which means that "hit and run" tactics are often successful. The
ability to distinguish valuable gems from glass is also very useful in
the Gnomish mines. Archaeologists are lawful, meaning it is often
difficult to obtain a good artifact from altars, since there are so
many useless lawful artifacts. Being lawful becomes an advantage in the
mines, however, since dwarves will often be peaceful.

ADVANTAGES: The ability to identify gems, starting with a pick-axe,
starting with speed and stealth, starting with a tinning kit, very good
intelligence and wisdom.
DISADVANTAGES: Very poor starting armor (the fedora is useless, ditch
it), poor starting weapon, poor physical characteristics.
DIFFICULTY: Moderate.


BARBARIANS: The barbarian is among the best classes to begin playing
with. They have very good physical characteristics and start with a
good weapon, meaning that they can often be played in a classic "hack
and slash" style successfully. In addition, they start with poison
resistance, meaning that a starting hacker can eat everything in sight
and determine what is good to eat and what is not. My first ascensions
in both 3.0j and 3.1 were barbarians. They are neutral, meaning there
are a plethora of good weapons available by sacrificing at an altar.

ADVANTAGES: Very good physical statistics, good weapon, poison
resistance.
DISADVANTAGES: Poor mental characteristics, poor armor.
DIFFICULTY: Low.


CAVEMEN: The poor man's barbarian, this character is for someone who
enjoys the same straightforward style that barbarians encourage, but
wants a challenge. Cavemen have no real useful intrinsics to speak of
and start with crummy armor and a crummy weapon, although the bow can
be useful. The one change in style over the barbarian is that it is
often useful for a caveman to hang back and use his bow on incoming
monsters. The caveman is lawful.

ADVANTAGES: Good physical characteristics.
DISADVANTAGES: Poor mental characteristics, poor armor, poor hand to
hand weapon.
DIFFICULTY: Moderate to high.


ELVES: Elves start with a real boatload of intrinsics, making them
another decent choice as a starting character, although I've never
favored them. Having speed and a bow enables elves to deal death from
afar, and also enables them to hit and run. Decent physical
characteristics as well as decent starting equipment also means that
they are okay in hand to hand fighting. Elves are among the most
balanced characters to start with, and are a good choice for starting
players. Having sleep resistance also nullifies the threat of gnomes
with wands of sleep. Since they are chaotic, there are only two
artifacts available, and one is useless.

ADVANTAGES: Good equipment, good intrinsics, good characteristics.
DISADVANTAGES: None, really.
DIFFICULTY: Low.


HEALERS: Healers are very poor fighters to begin with, starting out
with only gloves for armor and a scalpel for a weapon. However, healers
start with four potions of healing and four potions of extra healing
(which can start out blessed), meaning they begin the game with at
least 25 hit points if they quaff all their potions at the very start.
In addition, they have high constitution and blessed spellbooks of
healing and extra healing, meaning they will gain lots of hit points
from levels and can also keep their hit points up. If they can find
decent armor and a decent weapon, healers can become fairly powerful.
They are neutral, meaning there are lots of good artifacts available,
and they also begin with poison resistance, which is very helpful.

ADVANTAGES: Lots of hit points, good constitution, poison resistance.
Their scalpel will not dull due to engraving with it.
DISADVANTAGES: Piss-poor weapon and poor armor, poor strength.
DIFFICULTY: Moderate.


KNIGHTS: My friend says the following about Knights: "Nature abhors a
vacuum, which explains why knights die so much, since knights SUCK!" A
sentiment I concur with. Knights appear, on the surface, to be
relatively powerful, since they start out with good weaponry and good
armor. That, however, is the extent of their advantages. They have
mediocre physical characteristics although their wisdom and charisma
are very high. They have no useful intrinsics, although they can jump
in a chessboard pattern. They also have a goofy code of conduct meaning
they can often lose luck from stuff like killing sleeping monsters.
They can obtain Excalibur reasonably easily, but that is often not
enough to save them. By the way, any lawful character above level 4 can
gain Excalibur, but not as easily as a knight (they have better
chances).

ADVANTAGES: Good weapons, good armor, Excalibur.
DISADVANTAGES: Mediocre statistics, no useful intrinsics, code of
conduct, no equipment.
DIFFICULTY: Moderate to high.


PRIESTS: The foremost ability of the priest is that of identifying the
blessed/uncursed/cursed status of all items they run across. They are
also capable fighters in hand to hand combat, starting out with decent
equipment. Having holy water to begin with is also a useful trait, as
well as starting with two spellbooks. Priests have decent statistics
and can be any alignment. They are a good choice to begin with since
the ability to identify cursed items avoids alot of trouble.

ADVANTAGES: Identification of blessed/uncursed/cursed status, holy
water, decent equipment, decent statistics.
DISADVANTAGES: No real useful intrinsics.
DIFFICULTY: Low to moderate.


ROGUES: Rogues are interesting characters to play. They are best played
with a very hit and run style, as they are not the most capable of
fighters to begin with. High dexterity, however, means that if they
obtain a good weapon they can be deadly fighters. They start out with
decent equipment and speed and stealth. They are chaotic, meaning
Stormbringer or bust.

ADVANTAGES: Good dexterity, good intrinsics, decent equipment.
DISADVANTAGES: Poor armor and weapon.
DIFFICULTY: Moderate.


SAMURAI: Samurai are basically oriental barbarians. They have very
good starting armor (splint mail), very good weaponry (a katana,
wakizashi AND a bow) and very good statistics. They have no real useful
intrinsics, but are very powerful and capable fighters and are an
excellent choice for beginning players. They should be played with a
very straightforward, pound-them-until-they-stop-moving style.

ADVANTAGES: Very good equipment and statistics.
DISADVANTAGES: No useful intrinsics.
DIFFICULTY: Low


TOURISTS: Tourists are the most difficult of the bunch to play. Very
poor weapons, no armor (a Hawaiian shirt confers no armor bonus to
begin with), no intrinsics and pathetic statistics. The key to playing
a tourist is to always open a combat with a flash from your camera, and
to also use it to run away. This is their only saving grace. If you
choose to play a tourist, you will die alot.

ADVANTAGES: A camera. The Quest artifact (the Platinum Yendorian
Express Card.
DISADVANTAGES: Everything else.
DIFFICULTY: High


VALKYRIES: Valkyries are extremely easy to begin playing with, since
they are very good fighters with a good weapon and good armor. At first
glace, their armor appear to be somewhat poor since they only have a +3
small shield. However, the addition of even something like chain mail
(plentiful in the dungeon), an orcish helm and hard shoes gives them a
surprisingly low armor class. Valkyries often gain hit points like
gangbusters, and start with cold resistance which comes in handy. I've
played two valkyries in my life: one had 450 hit points when she died
eight times in a row and would have ascended but for lack of candles
(the lighting shop was infested with mimics and only had four candles),
the other got to level fifteen before dying. Another important
advantage is that not only are they neutral but they will always gain
Mjollnir first from altars, and if they have a strength of 25, they can
throw Mjollnir and have it return. My pick for best starting character
after the barbarian.

ADVANTAGES: Good equipment, good weapon, great statistics, cold
resistance, Mjollnir
DISADVANTAGES: None
DIFFICULTY: Low


WIZARDS: Wizards have very poor physical characteristics, poor armor
and a poor weapon, making them the worst fighter after the tourist.
However, they have good mental characteristics and start with a raft of
stuff which can often be very useful. They also have an athame, which
can engrave Elbereth without ever dulling. Magic resistance, conferred
by their cloak, comes in very handy at times, meaning no polymorph
traps will ruin their game. Wizards should play very cautiously,
engraving Elbereth very liberally in order to rest and gain hit
points.

ADVANTAGES: Elbereth, good mental characteristics, magic resistance,
equipment, equipment, equipment.
DISADVANTAGES: Poor weapon, poor armor, poor physical characteristics.
DIFFICULTY: Low to high, depending on their starting equipment.