I don't actually think that's such a big problem, Z. The only real problem I see with it is that you can't tell which direction you're facing. I do believe that someone said it's possible to be hit in the back, and that it actually makes a difference?
As noted on page 4 of this thread, it is possible to polymorph altars of gods into those of other gods. However:
1. Do not waste a charge on polymorphing just the altar, you can put 4 items on top of it (the altar seems to count as a 5th item)
2. It appears that altars are more prone to changing into altars of gods of the same alignment (during the test, the altar of Cruentus changed into -> Infuscor -> Mortifer -> Scabies -> Cruentus -> Mellis).
Yeah, I had a mad idea for a tank in IVAN. It's complicated and probably never will be implemented, but I thought I'd share it anyway.
It's essentially a chest. You "a"pply it to get inside. Once inside, your character is overlaid with the tank unit. It can attack in melee ("running over", well, more like ramming) and can be "z"apped to fire the cannon, which is basically a really weak, but infinite charge, wand of fireballs. Once the tank unit is damaged to the point of destruction, it explodes and leaves behind a lump of metal and you (if you survive).
There's more than that 4zb4. Almost every action will go towards training some stat. Using any hefty weapons and digging will train AStr. Easiest way to train LStr is to carry lots of stuff. Dodging will improve Agi. Dex is the easiest by far; opening doors, setting traps, picking up items and using light weapons come to mind. Per can be raised by dodging as well, and zapping wands. Cha you don't need to worry about, it has little use so far.
A digging level? Only way that'll be anything but a death trap is if you put lots of food on it.
I've a better idea. The stairs up and down are right next to each other. However, there are pockets of empty space throughout the rock that either hold a chest with food and other goodies (high quality) or enemies. The enemies being more common than chests, naturally. Perhaps no more than 2-3 chests scattered here and there that require a lot of digging to reach.