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''This article is about the player [[species]]. For the monster, see [[Deep Dwarf (monster)]]. For a list of all monstrous deep dwarves, see [[List of deep dwarves]].''
 
''This article is about the player [[species]]. For the monster, see [[Deep Dwarf (monster)]]. For a list of all monstrous deep dwarves, see [[List of deep dwarves]].''
{{flavour|Deep Dwarves are short, hardy people who, unlike their extinct surface relatives, never left the underground homelands. Living there for countless generations made them turn pale and lose all ability to regenerate on their own (nor are they receptive to any effects which merely hasten regeneration), as well as all ability to recover from losses to their primary attributes over time. On the other hand, Deep Dwarves have developed the ability to instantly counteract small doses of damage. Their empathy with the earth makes them sense their surroundings; this ability increases in power as they gain experience levels.
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{{flavour|Deep Dwarves are short, hardy people who, unlike their extinct surface relatives, never left the underground homelands. Living there for countless generations made them turn pale and lose all ability to regenerate health over time, or to have their rate of regeneration hastened by any effects. Deep Dwarves can instead draw on their magical essence to heal, but doing so will gradually deplete their maximum reserves of magic. They are passively able to reduce all incoming damage, and their empathy with the earth allows them to sense their surroundings; these abilities increase in power as they gain experience levels.
  
Given their lack of innate healing, few Deep Dwarves venture out for adventures or even combat. Those who do bring a wand of heal wounds, or rely on divine assistance.
+
Naturally, Deep Dwarves are quite adept with all arts of avoiding blows and damage. Offensively, they are skilled users of axes, crossbows, and slings. Deep Dwarves are highly spiritual beings, often portrayed as actual spirits by outsiders; because of this, their skill with invocations is great, and they often rely on divine assistance for healing. They are most at home with the magic of earth and death, eventually gaining some resistance to the dark powers of necromancy.}}
 
 
Naturally, Deep Dwarves are quite adept with all arts of avoiding blows and damage. Offensively, they are skilled users of axes, crossbows, and slings. Deep Dwarves are highly spiritual beings, often portrayed as actual spirits by outsiders; because of this, their skill with invocations is great. They are most at home with the magic of earth and death.
 
 
 
Deep Dwarves are gifted forgers. Their armour and weapons are very well-crafted and much more durable than the products of lesser artisans, and particularly dangerous when in the hands of a true Dwarf. In addition, Deep Dwarves can tinker with gadgets so as to recharge them. However, each time they do so, they lose a bit of their magical essence.}}
 
  
 
==Innate Abilities==
 
==Innate Abilities==
*[[Bad mutations#Slow Healing|Slow Healing 3]]: Deep Dwarves cannot [[heal]] lost HP or attributes naturally, nor benefit from any form of regeneration (including the [[Regeneration]] spell).
+
*[[Bad mutations|No Regeneration]]: Deep Dwarves cannot [[heal]] lost HP naturally, nor benefit from any non-divine form of regeneration (including the [[Regeneration]] spell).
 
**Deep Dwarves will not passively regain MP if wearing an [[amulet of guardian spirit]].
 
**Deep Dwarves will not passively regain MP if wearing an [[amulet of guardian spirit]].
 
*[[Good_mutations#Passive Mapping|Passive Mapping 1]]: Deep Dwarves can sense parts of the layout of the dungeon around them.
 
*[[Good_mutations#Passive Mapping|Passive Mapping 1]]: Deep Dwarves can sense parts of the layout of the dungeon around them.
*Damage Reduction (also known as "damage shaving"): Deep Dwarves suffer less damage from every source. Among other things, this generally negates the effects of being [[poison]]ed.
+
*Damage Reduction (also known as "damage shaving"): Deep Dwarves suffer less damage from every source. This applies separately to every source of damage, every time it is dealt; thus, for instance, damage shaving generally negates the effects of all but the worst cases of being [[poison]]ed.
*Deep Dwarves receive bonuses from dwarven weapons and armor, in addition to the bonuses this equipment already provides from its superior construction. For Deep Dwarves, dwarven armour impedes spellcasting less than other armours and improves their effective Armour skill. They do slightly more damage when using dwarven weapons.
+
*Heal Wounds: Deep Dwarves have an innate [[Heal Wounds]] ability, which has a 25% chance to reduce the player's permanent [[MP]] by 1 when used. Notably it has a chance to fail, so do not rely on this in combat.
*[[File:Device recharge.png]] Device Recharging: Deep Dwarves can recharge wands and rods at the cost of 1 permanent MP.
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{{flavour|At the permanent loss of one magic point recharge a wand or rod.}}
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Deep Dwarves have a base [[Strength]] of 11, [[Intelligence]] of 8 and [[Dexterity]] of 8 (before Background modifiers) and normal base [[magic points]].
  
 
==Preferred Backgrounds==
 
==Preferred Backgrounds==
*'''Warriors:''' [[Fighter]], [[Gladiator]], [[Hunter]]
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*'''Warriors:''' [[Fighter]], [[Hunter]]
*'''Zealots:''' [[Berserker]], [[Healer]]
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*'''Zealots:''' [[Berserker]]
*'''Warrior-mages:''' [[Warper]]
 
 
*'''Mages:''' [[Necromancer]], [[Earth Elementalist]]
 
*'''Mages:''' [[Necromancer]], [[Earth Elementalist]]
*'''Adventurers:''' [[Artificer]]
 
  
 
==Level Bonuses==
 
==Level Bonuses==
 
*+1 [[strength]] or [[intelligence]] (equal chance) every 4th level.
 
*+1 [[strength]] or [[intelligence]] (equal chance) every 4th level.
*20% more [[HP]] than average.
+
*20% more [[hit points]] than average.
*Average [[MP]].
 
 
*+6 [[magic resistance]] per level.
 
*+6 [[magic resistance]] per level.
 
*At level 14, gain [[Life Protection|Life Protection 1]].
 
*At level 14, gain [[Life Protection|Life Protection 1]].
Line 34: Line 27:
  
 
===Damage Reduction===
 
===Damage Reduction===
The formula for Deep Dwarves' damage reduction is 1d(2 + (1d(1 + experience level / 3) - 1)). This is applied against all damage they receive, even against attacks that are normally irresistible like [[smiting]] or [[hellfire]]. The table below only lists selected levels; unlisted levels also see small increments in damage reduction. It is not applied to damage from spell activation sources, such as [[Makhleb]]'s abilities.
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The formula for Deep Dwarves' damage reduction is ''1d(1 + 1d(1 + floor(XL / 3)))''. This is applied against all damage they receive, even against attacks that are normally irresistible like [[smiting]] or [[damnation]]. It is not applied to damage from spell activation sources, such as [[Makhleb]]'s abilities. The reduction is improved every three [[experience level]]s as per table below.
  
 
{| class="prettytable"
 
{| class="prettytable"
!Level !! Damage reduced
+
!Level !! Maximum !! Average
 
|-
 
|-
|1 & 2 || 1-2 (avg. 1.5)
+
|1 || 2 || 1.5
 
|-
 
|-
|5 || 1-3 (avg. 1.75)
+
||| 3 || 1.75
 
|-
 
|-
|8 || 1-4 (avg. 2)
+
||| 4 || 2
 
|-
 
|-
|11 || 1-5 (avg. 2.25)
+
||| 5 || 2.25
 
|-
 
|-
|14 || 1-6 (avg. 2.5)
+
|12 || 6 || 2.5
 
|-
 
|-
|17 ||1-7 (avg. 2.75)
+
|15 || 7 || 2.75
 
|-
 
|-
|20 || 1-8 (avg. 3)
+
|18 || 8 || 3
 
|-
 
|-
|23 || 1-9 (avg. 3.25)
+
|21 || 9 || 3.25
 
|-
 
|-
|26 || 1-10 (avg. 3.5)
+
|24 || 10 || 3.5
 +
|-
 +
|27|| 11 || 3.75
 
|}
 
|}
 +
Minimum reduction is always 1 point of damage.
  
 
==Starting Skills and Equipment==
 
==Starting Skills and Equipment==
Deep Dwarves start with the skills and equipment listed for their background, with these exceptions:
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Deep Dwarves start with all the skills and equipment listed for their background.
*A [[wand of healing]] with 5 charges.
 
*All weapons and armor are of dwarven quality, where such variants exist.
 
  
 
==Difficulty of Play==
 
==Difficulty of Play==
 +
{{Moderate}}
  
{{Beginner}}
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Deep Dwarves are a moderately easy species to play, so long as you work around their lack of natural HP regeneration. They start the game with a heal wounds ability, which functions as a very reliable panic button (as long as you don't wait so long that you would die if it failed to work). Deep Dwarves also have powerful damage shaving that scales up with their character level. However, one should take into account Deep Dwarves' lack of natural regeneration when choosing his or her [[god]] and background. Some strategies for how to offset this disadvantage can be found below.
 
 
Deep Dwarves are an easy species to play so long as you quickly find a renewable source of healing. They have powerful damage shaving, which makes them immune to most damage-over-time attacks (such as poison). Starting the game with healing wands identified is also nice. They have decent aptitudes for a fighter-mage hybrid. Due to their lack of healing, they must choose their [[god]] and background with great care. Despite avoiding the loss of HP healing from [[sickness]] (since they have nothing to lose), their inability to naturally recover from ability score loss actually makes sickness a much bigger deal than for most races.
 
 
 
Towards the late game, the lack of natural healing becomes much more significant. Vaults:5 and Zot:5, among other locations, can severely strain your supply of potions or piety (for divine healing). However, full-HP Deep Dwarves are also much more capable of surviving battles in these places, because they take much less damage from things such as [[orbs of fire]]. The extended endgame is a different matter: while [[torment]] poses less of a direct danger to deep dwarves, damage from it can be very difficult to repair.  Places such as [[Hell]] and [[Pandemonium]] will see you being tormented with considerable regularity, and this will rapidly deplete your supply of healing if you're not careful.
 
  
 
{{species_aptitudes|Deep Dwarf}}
 
{{species_aptitudes|Deep Dwarf}}
  
 
==Strategy==
 
==Strategy==
Initially, you start with a wand of healing, and the ability to recharge at the cost of one max MP. Use it. You're not going to regain that lost health naturally, so whenever your HP is at least 20 points or so below maximum, heal. Don't be afraid to use the recharging ability - it is better to end with 45 max MP instead of 50 than it is to die. Once you've identified [[potions of heal wounds]], you should use them before the wand, as they can break, and using them means you won't have to sacrifice as many MP to charge your wand. Save [[potions of curing]] for situations where you have a negative status effect, such as [[rot]] or [[confusion]] - using them to simply heal HP is wasteful. Use the wand instead, charging it if necessary.
+
Initially, you start with a heal wounds ability with a chance to lose one permanent MP. Use it. You're not going to regain that lost health naturally, so whenever your HP is at least 20 points or so below maximum, heal. Don't be afraid of running out of healing - you can always train more invocations or evocations to get more MP, and most characters should never run low on max MP. Save [[potions of curing]] for situations where you have a negative status effect, such as [[poison]] or [[confusion]], and [[potions of heal wounds]] for life-or-death situations where you cannot afford the fail chance on your innate ability - using them to simply heal HP is wasteful.
  
Later on, you will need a source of renewable healing, in addition to the usual means of non-renewable (consumable) healing. Consumable healing will quickly be exhausted if you don't find another way to heal. There are only a few ways to go about this:
+
Later on, you will need a source of renewable healing, in addition to the usual means of non-renewable (ability and consumable) healing. Consumable healing and your maximum MP will eventually be exhausted if you don't find another way to heal. There are only a few ways to go about this:
  
 
===Healing Through [[Necromancy]]===
 
===Healing Through [[Necromancy]]===
Deep Dwarves cannot use the [[Regeneration]] spell, but they can use [[Vampiric Draining]]. This spell requires a living target in melee range to be effective; luckily, the game provides plenty of these. It is only found in the [[Book of Necromancy]], which can be obtained in three ways:
+
Deep Dwarves cannot use the [[Regeneration]] spell, but they can use [[Vampiric Draining]]. This spell requires a living target in melee range to be effective; luckily, the game provides plenty of these. It is only found in the [[Book of Necromancy]] or in randart spellbooks. Vampiric Draining can be obtained in three ways:
 
*By starting as a [[Necromancer]]
 
*By starting as a [[Necromancer]]
*By finding it randomly, often in a shop (one might also find a [[randart]] spellbook containing the same spell)
+
*By finding it randomly  
*While [[Kikubaaqudgha]] worshipers normally only have a 50% shot at getting Vampiric Draining, the fact that they can't cast Regeneration means that Deep Dwarves will always receive it at * piety.
+
*While [[Kikubaaqudgha]] worshipers normally only have a 50% shot at getting Vampiric Draining, the fact that they can't cast Regeneration means that Deep Dwarves always receive it at * piety.
  
 
Gifted necromancers can also use [[Borgnjor's Revivification]] to heal, but this is as much of an emergency spell for Deep Dwarves as it is for any other character, given its cost in max HP.
 
Gifted necromancers can also use [[Borgnjor's Revivification]] to heal, but this is as much of an emergency spell for Deep Dwarves as it is for any other character, given its cost in max HP.
Line 88: Line 79:
 
===Passive Divine Healing===
 
===Passive Divine Healing===
 
Two gods passively give HP for kills:  
 
Two gods passively give HP for kills:  
*[[Makhleb]] gives HP for killing most enemies. He is by far the more common choice, since his healing is useful everywhere, and his other abilities are useful to just about any character build.  
+
*[[Makhleb]] gives HP for killing most enemies. It is by far the most common choice, since Makhleb's healing is useful everywhere, and the other abilities are useful to just about any character build.  
*[[The Shining One]] gives HP on killing "evil" enemies (namely demons, undead, and many spellcasters). A Deep Dwarf doing the extended end game may well find TSO to be a better option than Makhleb, since virtually all of the enemies in [[Hell]] and [[Pandemonium]] are evil, and TSO gives a variety of useful abilities in fighting them.
+
*[[The Shining One]] gives HP on killing "evil" enemies (namely demons, undead, and many spellcasters). This alone is not sufficient in most areas of the game, however; only in certain optional areas of the game this is likely to be a reliable, consistent source of healing. Also note that worshiping The Shining One precludes necromancy and vampiric weapons as means of healing.
  
 
===Active Divine Healing===
 
===Active Divine Healing===
Three gods have [[Invocations]] which can heal Deep Dwarves. All of these abilities cost piety, although to varying degrees.
+
Six gods have abilities which can heal Deep Dwarves.
*[[Elyvilon]] gives two healing abilities, Lesser and Greater Self-Healing. Both cost piety, but they are gained fairly early on (at * and *** piety, respectively), so most players will be unlikely to lose them. It is fairly easy to gain piety with Elyvilon by pacifying monsters, and to a lesser extent, sacrificing weapons. However, Ely's pacification abilities require [[Invocations]] skill to be most effective, and they both have steep food costs.
+
*[[Elyvilon]] gives two healing abilities, Lesser and Greater Healing. Both cost piety, but they are gained reasonably early on (at * and **** piety, respectively), so most players are unlikely to lose them. While piety is only gained through exploration, accomplishing this is aided by the Deep Dwarves [[Passive Mapping]] ability. Training [[Invocations]] skill increases the effectiveness of Lesser and Greater Healing.
*[[Trog]] gives a regeneration ability at ** piety, Trog's Hand. Unlike all other forms of regeneration, this works on Deep Dwarves. The ability does not require Invocations to be effective - rather, it becomes more effective with increasing piety. One must be careful about using this as one's only means of healing - it can rapidly consume piety, making it and Trog's other abilities considerably less effective.
+
*[[Trog]] gives a regeneration ability at ** piety, Trog's Hand. Unlike all other forms of regeneration, this works on Deep Dwarves. The ability does not require Invocations to be effective - rather, it becomes more effective with increasing piety. Moreover, because worshipers of Trog are punished for training or casting spells anyway, one can lean on the Deep Dwarves' healing ability more liberally, as the loss of max magic points is of no concern. Training [[Evocations]] under Trog for (among other things) greater max MP, and using a combination of the heal wounds ability as well as Trog's Hand, can be an effective means of negating Deep Dwarves' liabilities. Note that Trog does not allow any forms of healing that involve spellcasting, and that too much use of Trog's Hand may diminish how often one can use the powerful Brothers in Arms ability.
*[[Yredelemnul]] gives worshipers the ability to drain ambient lifeforce at **** piety. This ability is quite expensive, requires considerable Invocations investment (the max it can heal you is Invocation*2), and only works on living monsters. Taking Yred explicitly for this ability is inadvisable.
+
*[[Yredelemnul]] gives worshipers the ability to drain ambient lifeforce at **** piety. This ability is quite expensive, requires considerable Invocations investment (the max it can heal you is Invocation*2), and only works on living monsters. Taking Yred for the sole purpose of this ability is inadvisable.
 +
*[[Ru]] lets you use Draw Out Power at *** piety. This ability also has a cost attached to it, giving you slight drain upon using it. In a similar vein to Yredelemnul, taking Ru solely for this ability may not be wise.
 +
*[[Gozag]]'s Potion Petition ability usually offers at least one option that includes a potion of healing or curing. However, it's unreliable and expensive, so is more suited for emergencies.
 +
*[[Nemelex]]'s [[deck of escape]] can contain the [[Elixir card]] which will heal you. However, Nemelex card gifts aren't going to grant sufficient healing for the rest of the game; you can expect to get about 5 Elixir cards the entire game.
  
 
===Vampiric Weapons===
 
===Vampiric Weapons===
Vampiric weapons will heal Deep Dwarves when they hit a living target. Unfortunately, they are quite rare, and there is no way to guarantee that they will be on a useful weapon. An early vampiric weapon may give a Deep Dwarf more flexibility in god choice, however.
+
Vampiric weapons heal Deep Dwarves when they hit a living target. Unfortunately, they are quite rare, and there is no way to guarantee that they will be on a useful weapon. An early vampiric weapon may give a Deep Dwarf somewhat more flexibility in god choice, however - it is still advisable to take [[Makhleb]], [[Trog]], [[Elyvilon]] or at a stretch [[Ru]] though.
  
 
===Non-Renewable Healing===
 
===Non-Renewable Healing===
Deep Dwarves can also heal themselves through the following consumable means:
+
Deep Dwarves can also heal themselves by quaffing a [[potion of curing]] or [[potion of heal wounds]]. You can use [[potion of ambrosia|potions of ambrosia]] to heal yourself a reasonable amount between fights.
*Quaffing a [[potion of curing]] or [[potion of heal wounds]]
 
*Zapping a [[wand of healing]]
 
*The [[Elixir]] card, found in the Decks of War, Defense, and Changes. Unfortunately, none of these are gifted by [[Nemelex Xobeh]]. At low power, this card may only induce the Regeneration spell, which is a waste on Deep Dwarves.
 
*The Potion card, found in Decks of Wonders. At low power, this has a 54% chance of some form of HP healing (27% each of duplicating Potion of Heal Wounds or Potion of Curing). At higher power this chance drops off, as other non-healing effects also show up and dilute your odds. It hits a 21.6% chance of healing (10.8% of each potion type) at maximum power.
 
*The Alchemist card (Deck of Wonders) is the only card guaranteed at all power levels to give a healing effect that works on Deep Dwarves. It also robs you blind, but what use is money if you're dead?
 
*Xom will occasionally heal worshipers
 
*Drinking from a sparkling fountain gives a random potion effect, possibly including healing. This is generally a Bad Idea, given that other effects include [[rotting]] and [[mutations]].
 
  
 
===So What Does All This Mean?===
 
===So What Does All This Mean?===
All of this essentially means that Deep Dwarves are fairly limited in their choice of god. Necromancers have the most flexibility; since they start with Vampiric Draining, they can do reasonably well with any god they desire, although it is still advisable to pick one who gives renewable healing. All others, with the exception of those who get lucky and find a Book of Necromancy early on, are pretty much forced to choose between Makhleb, Elyvilon, Trog, and Kikubaaqudgha. Yredelemnul is a very iffy option, while The Shining One is only effective in the late game.
+
All of this essentially means that Deep Dwarves who wish to maximise their chances for success are fairly limited in their choice of god. Necromancers have the most flexibility; since they start with Vampiric Draining, they can do reasonably well with any "non-good" god they desire, although it may still be advisable to pick one who gives renewable healing. All others, with the exception of those who get lucky and find a Book of Necromancy early on, are strongly incentivised to choose between Makhleb, Elyvilon, Trog, and Ru. Yredelemnul is a very iffy option, while The Shining One is only effective for the purposes of Deep Dwarf healing in [[Pandemonium]], [[Hell]], [[Crypt]] and [[Tomb]].
  
At first glance, this might seem to make most of the religious classes off-limits for Deep Dwarves. However, this is not actually so:
+
==History==
*[[Berserker]]s already start with Trog
+
*Prior to [[0.20]], Deep Dwarfs started with a [[wand of heal wounds]] and a Device Recharging ability which would recharge any [[wand]] or [[rod]] for 1 permanant MP, instead of their innate heal wounds ability. Also, they had Slow Regeneration 3 instead of No Regeneration, which is a new Deep Dwarf-only mutation.
*[[Healer]]s already start with [[Elyvilon]]
+
*Before [[0.17]], Deep Dwarfs could not regenerate back temporarily reduced [[stats]], and had to use the now-removed [[potion of restore abilities]]. Deep dwarf [[player ghost]]s also used to share the same regeneration restrictions as their living counterparts.
*[[Chaos Knight]]s start with Xom. Xom is not incredibly hard to ditch, given that his wrath is simply the typical nasty things he already does to you when you're in "good" standing with him.
 
*[[Death Knight]]s start with Yredelemnul. They will probably want to change gods, but Yred's wrath is fairly tame. He causes necro miscasts and summons servants on you - but you outrun can all of them except for [[death cob]]s, which are extremely rare, and [[flying skull]]s, which are pathetic.
 
*[[Abyssal Knight]]s are the only religious class with significant trouble switching to another god. [[Lugonu]] does not give healing, and her wrath is extremely dangerous for a low-level character: you will likely be [[Abyss]]ed repeatedly. With the removal of wrath dilution in [[0.11]], early DDAK will either have to get lucky and find sources of healing (ideally a vampiric weapon or a book of Necromancy) that let them stay with Lugonu, or simply survive her wrath.  Delaying the changeover as long you can reasonably keep charging the wand is a good idea: an XL12-13 character has a much greater chance of surviving Lugonu's wrath than an XL5 one.  It is better to be down 10 max MP in the endgame than to be dead.
 
  
[[category: species]]
 
 
[[category: Dwarf]]
 
[[category: Dwarf]]
 +
 +
{{species}}

Revision as of 22:21, 25 September 2019

Version 0.23: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

This article is about the player species. For the monster, see Deep Dwarf (monster). For a list of all monstrous deep dwarves, see List of deep dwarves.

Deep Dwarves are short, hardy people who, unlike their extinct surface relatives, never left the underground homelands. Living there for countless generations made them turn pale and lose all ability to regenerate health over time, or to have their rate of regeneration hastened by any effects. Deep Dwarves can instead draw on their magical essence to heal, but doing so will gradually deplete their maximum reserves of magic. They are passively able to reduce all incoming damage, and their empathy with the earth allows them to sense their surroundings; these abilities increase in power as they gain experience levels.

Naturally, Deep Dwarves are quite adept with all arts of avoiding blows and damage. Offensively, they are skilled users of axes, crossbows, and slings. Deep Dwarves are highly spiritual beings, often portrayed as actual spirits by outsiders; because of this, their skill with invocations is great, and they often rely on divine assistance for healing. They are most at home with the magic of earth and death, eventually gaining some resistance to the dark powers of necromancy.

Innate Abilities

  • No Regeneration: Deep Dwarves cannot heal lost HP naturally, nor benefit from any non-divine form of regeneration (including the Regeneration spell).
  • Passive Mapping 1: Deep Dwarves can sense parts of the layout of the dungeon around them.
  • Damage Reduction (also known as "damage shaving"): Deep Dwarves suffer less damage from every source. This applies separately to every source of damage, every time it is dealt; thus, for instance, damage shaving generally negates the effects of all but the worst cases of being poisoned.
  • Heal Wounds: Deep Dwarves have an innate Heal Wounds ability, which has a 25% chance to reduce the player's permanent MP by 1 when used. Notably it has a chance to fail, so do not rely on this in combat.

Deep Dwarves have a base Strength of 11, Intelligence of 8 and Dexterity of 8 (before Background modifiers) and normal base magic points.

Preferred Backgrounds

Level Bonuses

Damage Reduction

The formula for Deep Dwarves' damage reduction is 1d(1 + 1d(1 + floor(XL / 3))). This is applied against all damage they receive, even against attacks that are normally irresistible like smiting or damnation. It is not applied to damage from spell activation sources, such as Makhleb's abilities. The reduction is improved every three experience levels as per table below.

Level Maximum Average
1 2 1.5
3 3 1.75
6 4 2
9 5 2.25
12 6 2.5
15 7 2.75
18 8 3
21 9 3.25
24 10 3.5
27 11 3.75

Minimum reduction is always 1 point of damage.

Starting Skills and Equipment

Deep Dwarves start with all the skills and equipment listed for their background.

Difficulty of Play

SimpleIntermediateAdvanced

Deep Dwarves are a moderately easy species to play, so long as you work around their lack of natural HP regeneration. They start the game with a heal wounds ability, which functions as a very reliable panic button (as long as you don't wait so long that you would die if it failed to work). Deep Dwarves also have powerful damage shaving that scales up with their character level. However, one should take into account Deep Dwarves' lack of natural regeneration when choosing his or her god and background. Some strategies for how to offset this disadvantage can be found below.

Skill aptitudes

The higher the value, the better the aptitude.

Skill Aptitude Skill Aptitude Skill Aptitude
Attack Miscellaneous Magic
Fighting -1 Armour 1 Spellcasting -2
Dodging 1
Maces & Flails 0 Shields 1 Conjurations -1
Axes 1 Stealth 3 Hexes -2
Polearms -1 Summonings -1
Staves -1 Invocations 3 Necromancy 1
Unarmed Combat -1 Evocations 3 Translocations 1
Throwing -1 Shapeshifting N/A Alchemy N/A
Fire Magic -1
Short Blades -1 Ice Magic -1
Long Blades 0 Air Magic -3
Ranged Weapons N/A Experience -1 Earth Magic 3

Strategy

Initially, you start with a heal wounds ability with a chance to lose one permanent MP. Use it. You're not going to regain that lost health naturally, so whenever your HP is at least 20 points or so below maximum, heal. Don't be afraid of running out of healing - you can always train more invocations or evocations to get more MP, and most characters should never run low on max MP. Save potions of curing for situations where you have a negative status effect, such as poison or confusion, and potions of heal wounds for life-or-death situations where you cannot afford the fail chance on your innate ability - using them to simply heal HP is wasteful.

Later on, you will need a source of renewable healing, in addition to the usual means of non-renewable (ability and consumable) healing. Consumable healing and your maximum MP will eventually be exhausted if you don't find another way to heal. There are only a few ways to go about this:

Healing Through Necromancy

Deep Dwarves cannot use the Regeneration spell, but they can use Vampiric Draining. This spell requires a living target in melee range to be effective; luckily, the game provides plenty of these. It is only found in the Book of Necromancy or in randart spellbooks. Vampiric Draining can be obtained in three ways:

  • By starting as a Necromancer
  • By finding it randomly
  • While Kikubaaqudgha worshipers normally only have a 50% shot at getting Vampiric Draining, the fact that they can't cast Regeneration means that Deep Dwarves always receive it at * piety.

Gifted necromancers can also use Borgnjor's Revivification to heal, but this is as much of an emergency spell for Deep Dwarves as it is for any other character, given its cost in max HP.

Passive Divine Healing

Two gods passively give HP for kills:

  • Makhleb gives HP for killing most enemies. It is by far the most common choice, since Makhleb's healing is useful everywhere, and the other abilities are useful to just about any character build.
  • The Shining One gives HP on killing "evil" enemies (namely demons, undead, and many spellcasters). This alone is not sufficient in most areas of the game, however; only in certain optional areas of the game this is likely to be a reliable, consistent source of healing. Also note that worshiping The Shining One precludes necromancy and vampiric weapons as means of healing.

Active Divine Healing

Six gods have abilities which can heal Deep Dwarves.

  • Elyvilon gives two healing abilities, Lesser and Greater Healing. Both cost piety, but they are gained reasonably early on (at * and **** piety, respectively), so most players are unlikely to lose them. While piety is only gained through exploration, accomplishing this is aided by the Deep Dwarves Passive Mapping ability. Training Invocations skill increases the effectiveness of Lesser and Greater Healing.
  • Trog gives a regeneration ability at ** piety, Trog's Hand. Unlike all other forms of regeneration, this works on Deep Dwarves. The ability does not require Invocations to be effective - rather, it becomes more effective with increasing piety. Moreover, because worshipers of Trog are punished for training or casting spells anyway, one can lean on the Deep Dwarves' healing ability more liberally, as the loss of max magic points is of no concern. Training Evocations under Trog for (among other things) greater max MP, and using a combination of the heal wounds ability as well as Trog's Hand, can be an effective means of negating Deep Dwarves' liabilities. Note that Trog does not allow any forms of healing that involve spellcasting, and that too much use of Trog's Hand may diminish how often one can use the powerful Brothers in Arms ability.
  • Yredelemnul gives worshipers the ability to drain ambient lifeforce at **** piety. This ability is quite expensive, requires considerable Invocations investment (the max it can heal you is Invocation*2), and only works on living monsters. Taking Yred for the sole purpose of this ability is inadvisable.
  • Ru lets you use Draw Out Power at *** piety. This ability also has a cost attached to it, giving you slight drain upon using it. In a similar vein to Yredelemnul, taking Ru solely for this ability may not be wise.
  • Gozag's Potion Petition ability usually offers at least one option that includes a potion of healing or curing. However, it's unreliable and expensive, so is more suited for emergencies.
  • Nemelex's deck of escape can contain the Elixir card which will heal you. However, Nemelex card gifts aren't going to grant sufficient healing for the rest of the game; you can expect to get about 5 Elixir cards the entire game.

Vampiric Weapons

Vampiric weapons heal Deep Dwarves when they hit a living target. Unfortunately, they are quite rare, and there is no way to guarantee that they will be on a useful weapon. An early vampiric weapon may give a Deep Dwarf somewhat more flexibility in god choice, however - it is still advisable to take Makhleb, Trog, Elyvilon or at a stretch Ru though.

Non-Renewable Healing

Deep Dwarves can also heal themselves by quaffing a potion of curing or potion of heal wounds. You can use potions of ambrosia to heal yourself a reasonable amount between fights.

So What Does All This Mean?

All of this essentially means that Deep Dwarves who wish to maximise their chances for success are fairly limited in their choice of god. Necromancers have the most flexibility; since they start with Vampiric Draining, they can do reasonably well with any "non-good" god they desire, although it may still be advisable to pick one who gives renewable healing. All others, with the exception of those who get lucky and find a Book of Necromancy early on, are strongly incentivised to choose between Makhleb, Elyvilon, Trog, and Ru. Yredelemnul is a very iffy option, while The Shining One is only effective for the purposes of Deep Dwarf healing in Pandemonium, Hell, Crypt and Tomb.

History

  • Prior to 0.20, Deep Dwarfs started with a wand of heal wounds and a Device Recharging ability which would recharge any wand or rod for 1 permanant MP, instead of their innate heal wounds ability. Also, they had Slow Regeneration 3 instead of No Regeneration, which is a new Deep Dwarf-only mutation.
  • Before 0.17, Deep Dwarfs could not regenerate back temporarily reduced stats, and had to use the now-removed potion of restore abilities. Deep dwarf player ghosts also used to share the same regeneration restrictions as their living counterparts.
Species
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