Got down to resurrected Xinroch's level with full valpurium and GEF gear, sure in my strength. Random explosion broke a random wand of polymorph and I ended up as a giant spider....

Squish!

I even had a ring of polycontrol, just not worn!!!

They can be triggered more than once, because they are not exploding but just releasing gas when stepped on. However, they will be discovered when triggered, so you won't randomly trigger them again and again. They also have a high chance of breaking whenever triggered and can be disarmed by picking them up or kicking them from adjacent square.

I managed to "break" the game without using any exploits. Well, I SOCM'd my limbs eventually, because I could, but still, look at my mental stats.

I body switched into a female slave, sacrificing some physical attributes for higher Int and Wis, then science talked to all NPCs I could, then went down to GC 8, where Praecantrix (henceforth refered to as Penny) summons necromancers and other critters. With some Dulcis and lyre of charm, I tamed the necromancers and science talked to them, until I could go to the dolphins and talk to those.

Then I SOCM'd my limbs and equipment, enchanted it, tamed some more necromancers and now I'm several times more intelligent than Izzy.

Well, I really hope overconfidence will not kill me against Xinroch.

Be careful that this has a good chance to destroy some items on the level, so you might be depriving yourself of some loot.

No, dragon hide. Because it's a flaming sword.

Skeletal Xinroch has a ruby flaming sword. So lost ruby flaming sword is as close as you can get to the other sword while making it an artifact.

I'd say have both swords of same material, so either retain both as pure ruby, or make both ruby with arcanite handle.

Just don't stay in the gas and they should be much more manageable than mines, and those also start in GC 1. I always fear going into GC when I can't find a source of fire resistance, because then you'll very quickly end blown up.

Wow, I just reinvented the wheel! Good idea, chaostrom, I like it.

Was it in the Cellar, or deeper? You shouldn't be able to take anything from the Cellar, but deeper, you can take whatever you like.

I have a new solution to the useless shields problem mentioned many, many times. Here is the relevant branch.

I don't think adding offensive capabilities (bashing etc.) to shields is the best way to go, mostly because this makes shields similar to dual-wielding, while IMHO shield builds should feel differently and more defense oriented than offense oriented dual-wield builds. Therefore, I think a nice way to buff shields is to give them an AV bonus applied to all body parts, just as cloaks. That way, you can either go dual-wield route and have more attacks/higher damage, or go shield route and have less damage, but more blocking (already present) and more AV (my change).

Even better, this change makes both light and heavy shields viable and different. Light shields are more accurate, thus better at blocking blows and negating the damage completely. Heavy shields are inaccurate and bad at blocking, but have much higher AV bonuses and will reduce damage taken. You can decide yourself which is better for you, but both types of shields have pros and cons.

While you will still sacrifice offense by wielding a shield, now they will offer a tradeoff that is hopefully worth it.

Coincidentally, this also fixes a bug with Aegis which was already present in CLIVAN and I didn't notice it until now - it only gave its elemental resistances to the arm you wielded it with, not your whole body. Now it will be fixed.

What do you think?