DL 4 healer picks up his first wand and engraves.

"You may wish for an object."

Never thought I would ever ascend a healer. Now I will.

1.Wished 2 blessed scrolls of charging

Recharge the wand.

2. +1 Magicbane
3. Gauntlets of power
4. +1 Silver Dragon Scale Mail

Recharge the wand
5. +1 fireproof speed boots

Dagger is the only artifact he can really get skill in. Strongly considered mjollnir. Even unskilled it does tremendous damage (and it's neutral, so no blast).

Considered also greyswandir since Healers can get skill in sabre.

But magicbane gives a good damage source, trains daggers AND grants magic resistance. A 2 for 1 wish.

Gauntlets of power with magicbane makes you a killing machine.

Hello first healer ascension!

On Friday, August 5, 2022 at 2:01:34 AM UTC-4, Chris Bowers wrote:
> DL 4 healer picks up his first wand and engraves.
>
> "You may wish for an object."
>
> Never thought I would ever ascend a healer. Now I will.
>
> 1.Wished 2 blessed scrolls of charging
>
> Recharge the wand.
>
> 2. +1 Magicbane
> 3. Gauntlets of power
> 4. +1 Silver Dragon Scale Mail
>
> Recharge the wand
> 5. +1 fireproof speed boots
>
> Dagger is the only artifact he can really get skill in. Strongly considered mjollnir. Even unskilled it does tremendous damage (and it's neutral, so no blast).
>
> Considered also greyswandir since Healers can get skill in sabre.
>
> But magicbane gives a good damage source, trains daggers AND grants magic resistance. A 2 for 1 wish.
>
> Gauntlets of power with magicbane makes you a killing machine.
>
> Hello first healer ascension!
* Hopefully

On 05.08.2022 08:02, Chris Bowers wrote:
> On Friday, August 5, 2022 at 2:01:34 AM UTC-4, Chris Bowers wrote:
>>
>> Hello first healer ascension!

Famous Last Words! :-)

> * Hopefully

Indeed. - Good luck!

BTW; you posted 2x "recharge" of the WoW. Did you mean "wrest"?

Janis

On Friday, August 5, 2022 at 5:10:49 AM UTC-4, Janis wrote:
> On 05.08.2022 08:02, Chris Bowers wrote:
> > On Friday, August 5, 2022 at 2:01:34 AM UTC-4, Chris Bowers wrote:
> >>
> >> Hello first healer ascension!
>
> Famous Last Words! :-)
>
> > * Hopefully
>
> Indeed. - Good luck!
>
> BTW; you posted 2x "recharge" of the WoW. Did you mean "wrest"?
>
> Janis
Yes, Wrest last charge. Sorry!

Anyone else have different wish choices?

-Chris

On 05.08.2022 20:27, Chris Bowers wrote:
> Anyone else have different wish choices?

Of course :-)

And such differences lead typically to heated disputes. ;-)

Okay. You are playing a healer and had wished for: [*]

1.Wished 2 blessed scrolls of charging
=> Yes (unless I already have means of charging).
=> Also, I spare that if the wand has more charges[*] and I don't
need that many wishes at the moment (later I may get charging),
but a very early WoW a character is poorly equipped.
2. +1 Magicbane
=> It's against my conduct to wish for artifact weapons, YMMV.
=> It's okay but I'd probably wished for Grayswandir or Mjollnir
as melee weapon (Magicbane for engravings) - while recognizing
the trade-offs. (But it's against my conduct, so not concerned.)
3. Gauntlets of power
=> The strength in Nethack is important early, specifically for
the wimpier classes; for carrying capacity and damage done.
4. +1 Silver Dragon Scale Mail
=> Generally I prefer MR from body armor and not rely on that
artifact dagger; I want more damage from a better artifact.
Also - if I am proficient enough and my character already a
bit settled - I'd inspect Sokoban to see whether I can get
reflection for free.
5. +1 fireproof speed boots
=> That's always a high priority choice for me.

All in all my wishes would be different, but I'd consider that
a sensible set that you've chosen; it fits to address many early
troubles. (One thing I'd be extremely anxious about is poison,[**]
but Healers are resistant, so it needs not be addressed in case
of playing this role.)

Janis

[*] Posting context in your followup would have helped here.

[**] Recent Slashem game; early shop, uncursed cloak, buy it,
put it on... - DYWYPI - it was a poisonous cloak.

On Friday, August 5, 2022 at 4:18:56 PM UTC-4, Janis wrote:
> On 05.08.2022 20:27, Chris Bowers wrote:
> > Anyone else have different wish choices?
> Of course :-)
>
> And such differences lead typically to heated disputes. ;-)
>
> Okay. You are playing a healer and had wished for: [*]
> 1.Wished 2 blessed scrolls of charging
> => Yes (unless I already have means of charging).
> => Also, I spare that if the wand has more charges[*] and I don't
> need that many wishes at the moment (later I may get charging),
> but a very early WoW a character is poorly equipped.
> 2. +1 Magicbane
> => It's against my conduct to wish for artifact weapons, YMMV.
> => It's okay but I'd probably wished for Grayswandir or Mjollnir
> as melee weapon (Magicbane for engravings) - while recognizing
> the trade-offs. (But it's against my conduct, so not concerned.)
> 3. Gauntlets of power
> => The strength in Nethack is important early, specifically for
> the wimpier classes; for carrying capacity and damage done.
> 4. +1 Silver Dragon Scale Mail
> => Generally I prefer MR from body armor and not rely on that
> artifact dagger; I want more damage from a better artifact.
> Also - if I am proficient enough and my character already a
> bit settled - I'd inspect Sokoban to see whether I can get
> reflection for free.
> 5. +1 fireproof speed boots
> => That's always a high priority choice for me.
>
> All in all my wishes would be different, but I'd consider that
> a sensible set that you've chosen; it fits to address many early
> troubles. (One thing I'd be extremely anxious about is poison,[**]
> but Healers are resistant, so it needs not be addressed in case
> of playing this role.)
>
> Janis
>
> [*] Posting context in your followup would have helped here.
>
> [**] Recent Slashem game; early shop, uncursed cloak, buy it,
> put it on... - DYWYPI - it was a poisonous cloak.

That's fine. I had considered other wishes. Mjollnir was a top contender. Even unskilled it does incredible damage. I also considered not wishing for any artifact weapons as there was an early altar. But I was so so so weak STR 9 and Dex 7!!! VERY VERY weak. He couldn't hit ANYthing and couldn't do ANY damage.

There's an altar, so I could have gone there to sacrifice. Magicbane AND gauntlets of power might be overkill. Even with just GOP I would be doing pretty good damage just with my bare hands, so perhaps that was overkill and nearsighted.

However, since then: no problems. With anything. Smooth sailing. I'll upgrade my damage portfolio later for the endgame, but magicbane +1 and strength 25 does just wonderful damage.

Another thing for my damage portfolio is magic missile. I can actually cast it, and by maxing my stats with alchemy later, I can cast it very reliably.. If I need damage I can do that. Also healer gets the staff of aesculapis (or however you spell that). And that's a huge damage weapon.

A more longsighted choice would have been

2 blessed scrolls of charging
2 blessed scrolls of enchant weapon
magic marker
wand of polymorph
Gauntlets of Power

I already had a decent stack of elvish daggers, so I could enchant a stack of those both to wield and to throw. +7 Daggers with the +3/to hit +6 damage from gauntlets of power are a formidable weapon all by themselves. Wand of polymorph both for emergencies and for polypiling. Plus you have that scroll of charging to recharge it as well. This gets you even more scrolls of enchant weapon (for a sacrifice gift or for the staff later).

However, I think my choices were more powerful. I mean, magic resistance, reflection, good AC, damage from GOP, engraving from magic bane, and magicbane's stunning effects, speed for an extra attack and to run away. What's not to like?

These wishes are focused on the early game... but the endgame? I don't know for healer it seems like the early game is harder. With powerful spells like magic missile (and he could wear a robe later too to enhance spellcasting), it seems like the future is, as americans say "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

-Chris

On Friday, August 5, 2022 at 2:01:34 AM UTC-4, magicby...@yahoo.com wrote:
> DL 4 healer picks up his first wand and engraves.
>
> "You may wish for an object."
>
> Never thought I would ever ascend a healer. Now I will.
>
> 1.Wished 2 blessed scrolls of charging
>
> Recharge the wand.
>
> 2. +1 Magicbane
> 3. Gauntlets of power
> 4. +1 Silver Dragon Scale Mail
>
> Recharge the wand
> 5. +1 fireproof speed boots
>
> Dagger is the only artifact he can really get skill in. Strongly considered mjollnir. Even unskilled it does tremendous damage (and it's neutral, so no blast).
>
> Considered also greyswandir since Healers can get skill in sabre.
>
> But magicbane gives a good damage source, trains daggers AND grants magic resistance. A 2 for 1 wish.
>
> Gauntlets of power with magicbane makes you a killing machine.
>
> Hello first healer ascension!

Well, there is always the blessed figurine of an archon option, if you want to go a different direction.

--
-Harold Hill