r/dcss

I have been wanting to really get into them for a while now. The reason I'm making this post is because the way I see it, I would need to put in quite a lot of time in both to truly see them for what they are, and if they happen to be my thing, I want a nudge to see where I should start. After all my browsing, I ended up narrowing the games down to DCSS and Cogmind.

I have played Caves of Qud for a week or so, but spent many hours in those days. While I loved it, I was super confused on why it's considered a roguelike, it really felt like an open-world RPG with roguelike gameplay, which made it tedious to play on permadeath mode since you're essentially playing a relatively difficult (knowledge-based) RPG for the first time on perma-death mode. I will definitely be going back to it in the future, giving it a break for now.

For the two games mentioned, I would like some comprehensive thoughts on both or either one of them, depending on which you played. I value replayability, fun/fair challenge with many options self-imposed challenges, emergent gameplay (this is a big one). Tell me as much as you can about either game you played, what you love/hate, random details you would like to share, etc.

One last thing, controls are out of consideration, I got the hang of Qud very quickly using keyboard only with vi keys.

Thanks

https://preview.redd.it/wngjmbvhu7kh1.png?width=523&format=png&auto=webp&s=f225588cf4668cd188a13a6523e28db270df9971

I legit couldn't believe my eyes when my character that has already cleared Pandemonium had to retreat from a single Sylmdra. They heal back the damage you do, thanks to the heads growing giving +30hp per head. With 10+ heads they can delete a third of the healthbar of a 40 AC 300hp rCorr character in a single turn. They can gain heads before even engaging with you in combat by absorbing other slimes.

Even at lvl27, with artefact gear and artefact slashing non-flaming weapons, you will die if you don't have an alternative way of fighting them.

I wasn't sure how this would work, so figure I'd report back on the result of my test for any future web searchers. This result is as of DCSS 0.34.1.

The fungal fisticloak {Shroompunch Gloves+ HP-10 Str-2 Int-2} is an unrandart cloak that "also occupies your helmet slot" but the cloak itself "can equip an additional pair of gloves". Since a Poltergeist can equip 6 auxiliary pieces of armor (Helm, Hat, Cloak, Scarf, Gloves, Boots) agnostic to their type, I wasn't sure how the interaction would work.

My character in question also happened to be worshipping Ashenzari, so every slot was cursed when I found the fungal fisticloak, which begged the questions of:

• Would I have to uncurse/destroy two aux items just to put it on?
• Would the Gloves+ turn into a generic aux slot?
• Would the Gloves+ slot be a 7th slot or would it and the occupied helmet slot offset?

Here's what I found:

• I was able to equip the fungal fisticloak after freeing up only one generic aux slot, not two.
• It then became possible to equip an extra set of gloves as my seventh piece of aux equipment.
• Attempting to add any aux armor besides gloves replaced the fungal fisticloak and reduced the total back down to six aux slots, so the extra aux item must be gloves.

I have no idea what might happen if/when I curse and uncurse the extra gloves slot (i.e. can I destroy/replace those gloves without destroying the fisticloak?) so there's still some outstanding questions about how it all works.

TLDR: the fungal fisticloak uniquely interacts to the benefit of Poltergeists to allow a net extra gloves slot without actually taking up both the cloak and helmet slot, since Poltergeist has no "helmet" slot. However, per my specific test scenario, this may or may not be the unique consequence of having had every other aux slot already cursed by Ashenzari (i.e. maybe an uncursed helmet would have been forcibly removed by wearing the cloak).

https://preview.redd.it/umqudgsh5zjh1.png?width=1530&format=png&auto=webp&s=ba09d6a8326fedb6dc16d2a783ef2d267315e3f5

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I'm playing as a troll and I tried using weapons that climb well, like clubs, but I've noticed that I just kill enemies faster when I'm unarmed. So I wanted to know how much damage I can do without weapons, taking into account level 3 claws and the unarmed combat level. Is there a formula?

idk the name also you have a archer companion

https://preview.redd.it/nc60s9bs9pjh1.png?width=218&format=png&auto=webp&s=2a2ea0d8144b4f09b30e618ce5b4e16582d7d8d1

At first I thought 'go back up, come down another stairs', but then realised that's all 3 up+down stairs.

After

This the full map after killing them and reading a revelation.

On trunk so I'm guessing this is the generator being broken. I've never seen anything like this. The next level was normal.

J'ai besoin de vos lumières.

Pour la première fois, j'arrive à monter un spriggan grace à "Gyre and Gymble" trouvé assez tôt dans le donjon (grace à une graine...).

Ça marche, bien, vraiment bien, j'ai traversé la plupart des branches de base comme dans du beurre, passé en forme de Statue, et je suis à l'entrée de Zot avec mes 3 runes. Je précise que ce n'est que la 2eme fois que j'arrive à ce stade, toutes classes confondues.

Voici mon profil :

https://preview.redd.it/di6e6rn8svjh1.png?width=873&format=png&auto=webp&s=109e3b020ea3c3e94e558ae404cd05c0af396b04

https://preview.redd.it/o8ytnpfjsvjh1.png?width=890&format=png&auto=webp&s=9d6245300773e32a7f1f30d6e1f87508095a52f0

Je me débrouille très très bien en défensif, Disjunction me permet de gérer les très grands groupes en étant patient.

Mais... je galère sur les créatures avec une grosse défense (Dragon d'or par exemple), je n'arrive pas à les blesser, je manque de force de frappe.

J'ai donc plusieurs questions :

- Est-ce que je peux me lancer dans Zot ?

- Comment attaquer les montres avec une grosse AC ? Développer un sort agressif type fireball ?

- Est-ce que d'autres talismans peuvent être utiles ? (Storm ? Death ? Wellspring ?)

Merci d'avance !

Morgue: https://crawl.akrasiac.org/rawdata/MackTheFife/morgue-MackTheFife-20260816-152947.txt

I've tried many FeSu's (and Cj's) but never ascended one. My best Fe scores were all berserkers, including my only Fe win.

This time I decided to try shapeshifting as well as spells. The game went well for me throughout. I found the amulet of wildshape and a bunch of talismans, and rush shapeshifting alongside summoning. And I got all the summoning spells I could want.

Endgame: flying and hive form. For any fight, Dragon's Call and Sphinx Sisters. The dragons spawn near enemies, the Sisters near me. If Dragoncall status runs out, run. In Zot, drop a Malign Gateway as I run.

Then at Zot 4 and 5, start bribing. This was amazing. I bribed the dungeon on the way out, and to my surprise it bribes the pursuers. I had a pet pan lord all the way to the end.

Anyway, I hardly ever win, and this was gratifying.

In this one game, before the S-branches, I have found:

The elemental staff

Zephyr (this is the salvo version, in trunk)

The +8 orange crystal plate armour

3x scrolls of aquirement

a good trove with several other excellent armours (I'm currently wearing the +5 pearl dragon armour with Invis, SInv, also gold dragon scales)

a = of EV+5, dex+8

a = of Wiz, dex+2, slay+5

multiple good randart amulets

a +11 morningstar of freezing

... and more.

Have been building a demigod with STR aiming for a decent axe (one thing I still havn't found, not that I'm complaining), but have to choose between one of the heavy armours and holding out on the bash-n-slash plan or switching down a bit, adding dex, and using Zephyr... and that's *neglecting* the combo on offer of the elemental staff plus wizardry -- oh and manuals of both spellcasting and conjurations. And excellent light armours on tap too (e.g. the skin of Zhor), although late game the OCPA might actually work...

Good lord. Is the RNG trying to apologize for past conduct, all at once?

(Yes yes, I'll share the seed when the game is over)

(I know that this may be a bad take, but I liked that idea so I decided to post it)

The reason I'd like to have a summoner-god added is simple-it's kind of unfair that Conj and conj-like spells get a god for them(Vehumet), while summoning only get a few rather sub-optimal choices:Sif Muna, who is a magic god in general and doesn't give bonuses to summoning specifically, and TSO, who forbids you to use plenty of summoning spells. That's why I decided to create a concept for a summoning god.

1. Name-Convoc(shortened from Convocato, which means "summon" on latin. Convocato doesn't have the exact same meaning as in "summoning allies with a spell", but good enough.)

2. Penance(decided to do it first so the bonuses don't seem too overpowered):

Convoc dislikes it when you use destructive magic(destructive magic is all magic that Vehumet supports) to damage an enemy.

Convoc strongly dislikes it when you kill enemies with anything except your allies(allies from non-spell sources are allowed). Damaging enemies is fine, but the killing blow must be from your allies.

If penance goes above 20, you're immediately excommunicated.

Convoc does not appreciate desertion!(50 penance)

Convoc's wrath(each wrath has an equal chance):

1. Each ally you have has a chance to turn hostile. Allies closer to you are prioritised(Only happens when you have atleast 1 ally), the percentage of allies turned hostile is (Penance+(XL*(current HP%*1.5).
2. Your enemies have a chance to gain one of the following spells:corrupt(50%), shadow creatures(30%), plane rend(20%). The amount of enemies who gain these spells is equal to (XL/6). Cannot be used if player's XL is below 11. If player's HP is dropped below 30% and they're still worshipping Convoc, the enemies who these spells were given to become unable to cast them until the player's HP goes above 75%.
3. Your enemies begin passively summoning one of the following:death scarabs(60% chance); random slimes(the pool is the same as The Royal Jelly's when it is damaged)(30% chance, twice the time between spawns); the same effect as a summoning scroll, but summoning hostile and durably summoned creatures(10% chance, triple the time between spawns). The spawns don't happen outside of your LOS. The amount of creatures summoned this way can not be more that 10 at once(if 10 is reached, summoning stops). If the creature falls below 20%, a spawn immediately triggers. The time between spawns(basic) is 30 - XL*1.5, no less than 1. The amount of enemies who begin summoning is randomized between 1 and 6, but the passive summoning cooldowns are then decreased by (6-number of summoning enemies). If you're still worshipping Convoc, the enemies spawned this way have a chance to be immediately dismissed when you're dropped to low Hp(below 20%). This chance is piety/300.

Every wrath will only decrease the penance counter by 1. Even when the wrath ends, if you're not worshipping Convoc, you'll be unable to re-join it.

3. Piety gain

Convoc likes it when your allies kill enemies. Convoc especially likes it when an enemy is killed purely by your allies(without any damage dealt by you yourself) AND the allies were summoned with a spell

4. Abilities: Convoc uses summonings skill instead of invocations

Passive: *..... : Whenever your summon dies, there is a chance that you get MP equal to (summon's max HP/20). The chance is (Piety/3 + Summonings skill*1.5)%

Your summons gain an HP regeneration bonus equal to the sum of your HP and MP regeneration.

Whenever you drink a potion(not dangerous/q!), your summons also gain its effects, for the duration equal to yours.

If an ally's will is lower than yours, it is weighted towards yours, up to (Piety/4 + summonings*2) will.

Active:

Reality anchor:applies the "reality anchor" effect to all temporary allies. While the ability is active, your ally's remaining time will not decrease, and abjurations casted on the ally only have a quarter of their effect. Duration(individual for each ally):(Ally's max duration/5 + summonings*2 + piety/16) DecaAut.(piety--)

**....:

Passive:

Whenever your ally kills an enemy, the ally gains HD bonus equal to (Killed monster's HD/10 + piety/32), random slaying bonus from +1 to +5, a random brand to their attacks with a 1/5 chance per kill(if they have a brand, 1/10 chance of getting an additional), and a heal equal to (slain enemy's HD*1.25).

Active:

Focus switch:each enemy in LOS has to pass a will check(enchantment power=summonings*5 + piety), otherwise their focus will switch to your allies instead of you(they will ignore you to attack your allies). Duration is equal to (Summonings/2) DecaAut (piety-)

***...

Passive:

Your allies gain bonuses as if they had both Halo(but only increased ally accuracy) and Umbra(but only decreased enemy accuracy)

Active:

Abjuration:abjures all enemy-summoned units in your LOS(no line of fire required). Duration decrease:(Piety/4*(Summonings/20) DecaAut.(Piety---)

****..

Passive:

Your allies, when summoned, gain 1 random bonus. The pool: Haste(20%), Might(20%), berserk(15%), focus(+15 to-hit)(15%), passive summoning(the one described in the penance section, but summons friendlies and no longer stopped when you're at low HP)(10%), active summoning(a random spell described in penance section is given to the summon, once again summoning friendlies and not stopping when you're at low HP)(10%). Elemental resistance(2 stacks of each element resistance)(5%); 1 more(rerolls, giving the ally 2 of these bonuses instead)(5%). The chance to roll for these bonuses is equal to (Piety/2.5+Summonings)%

Active:

Mass cure:clears all allies from any debuffs they had and prevents them from getting any more debuffs for (summonings/2) turns, heals them by (Summonings*1.5) HP.(piety----)

*****.

Passive:

Casting summoning spells only takes half of the time it would've taken normally(if a spell would take 1 DecaAut to cast, it will take 5 Aut instead). If you miscast, Convoc will give you 1x wiz for your next cast of the spell, until you succeed in casting it. Then, all wiz gained is removed. Also, Convoc gives you 1x archmage to all your summoning and summoning-like(infestation, animate dead, etc) spells.

Active:

Discharge:immediately casts every summoning and summoning-like spell you have, with halved MP cost for each spell. Then, casts reality anchor(piety------)

******

Passive:

Your allies, when adjacent or near-adjacent to you, will gain +1 range to their spells(if the range is already 7 or 8, they'll gain +10 to-hit instead), +10 AC, and they'll only lose duration with half the normal speed. If they're at longer distance from you, they instead gain +20% damage to their spells, +10 to-hit, and they'll gain haste(stacks with normal haste) once their remaining duration is below 30%.

Active:

Damage bound:Can target up to 3 allies. whenever you take damage, 50% of it is dealt to the target ally/allies instead, but it is dealt to the ally in 1.5 proportion to the damage they would've actually taken. If your HP is already 1, all damage dealt to you will be dealt to the target ally/allies(preventing your death), but the damage dealt to the allies this way will be tripled. If you were dropped to 1 HP during the spell's effect, it will get 1d4 turns cooldown. You cannot recast the ability while there are still allies under the abilities effect

5. Gifts:

For each 25 piety you gain(even when at max piety), you are given 2 random summoning spells. The spell level will be equal to (piety(not number value, but the * symbols displayed as piety amount. For example, at ***... piety, piety will be counted as "3") +1d4). If it would give a level 10 spell(which doesn't exist), it gives a level 9 spell instead. When you have all spells for the appropriate spell levels, it will give spells of lower level. (for example, if you have all level 7, 8 and 9 at ****** piety, it will give level 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 spells, in that order)

The Crawl Wiki entry on Clarity omits one of the possible sources: the Coglin Gizmo.

https://preview.redd.it/flp7r3wo6kjh1.png?width=2180&format=png&auto=webp&s=51302e6114e49523b130ebdffb4e4c57739d6c6a

each level of spellcasting is equivalent of 1/4 at all other schools, along with other benefits. With manuals doubling the xp acc speed, i feel i can probably just learn spellcasting and gain lots of spells ahead of curve. However the staff is probably also amazing for the resistances? Im not sure. What should I pick?

Air magic is a spell school that's kind of unwieldly to completely useless at higher levels. Risking hurting yourself or possible summons with Chain Lightning or OoE is oftentimes unacceptable for squishier characters.

A really easy fix would be to add call down lightning as a level 7 or 8 pure Air or Air/conj as a 3x3 upgrade to airstrike. Because the theme for spells often involves a gimmick this couldn't be casted at melee range without giving you considerable arcing damage.

It's similar to stone arrow -> bombard, a direct upgrade with a perfect amount of added complexity.

I'm noticing I'm having much more success in early game to extended by going unarmed and pumping STR as high as possible than I ever have with weapons. Unarmed is completely predictable, deals very high damage, can be jacked up much higher with forms - it's more versatile.

Thoughts?

How bad is it? Just wasn't ready before, bad loot rng. Abyss 5+ terrifies me(

I fought my way through two levels of the Abyss after getting banished by Louise in Spider 4. got out, banished again a little bit later after I teleported to recover. Such a bullshit spell that's a death sentence for low level characters and a nuisance for higher level ones.