Most of us have dealt with being plagued and having to sit down and
let it ruin our fun...er, I mean health and mana. The thing is, plague
lasts for DAYS, and that sucks enough as it is if you can't cure it,
but what the hell is with the mana and movement going beyond its
lowest point (that being zero, naturally)? I mean, once the plague has
worn off, and you're at -658 mana, and -15000000 movement, it has gone
from the realm of a gameplay ability, and into the realm of being
completely annoying. ####, when the plague wears off, it is GONE. The
whole time you have the plague you can consider THAT the recovery time,
seeing as how it is getting continually weaker and weaker. Having to
sit on your ass long after the plague is gone is just kinda whacky.

Anyway, I doubt I'm going to get an agreement here, but this seems
screwed to me.

Bizarro I'm helping!

I agree it sucks. Your mana/move going more than a few below 0 makes about as much sense as your hit points going below zero.
Ergo, your head should pop off if mana dips below -x, and your legs should sluff off for move. Uhh..huh.

that rilly sux

In addition to Nepenthe's points, one of the main uses of plague/etc. is being able to wear down a foe enough to keep them helpless for a period of time that you can use to hunt them down and kill them. I don't see why we'd want to weaken that method of landing a kill, other than the all-too-common 'make everything easy and the game will be fun' misconception. You're vulnerable, but more or less any non-Rager-without-powers can deal with it, especially for characters who are willing to ask someone else for help. Refresh and related abilities are common and inexpensive for exactly this reason, and the situation you're describing is one of the best reasons to think ahead and have a bunch handy.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

I have to say (and I'm a newbie so take this with a grain of salt if you wish.) But I personally think having to have potions, scrolls, roots, pills, and about a bazillion other concoctions on you just to survive every situation imaginable is a big waste of time. You spend lots of time going to get them, lots of money buying many of them, just to have them all sac'd when you die. And sometimes they fail even if you do try to use them. *shrug* It gets real annoying.

So with that said, I do have a question about using things when you are badly maledicted.

Refresh items: Having never used any of them, I'm assuming they do things like restore mana and movement right? If you have one on you and you are slept, plagued, cursed and all that good stuff (you know, like what hero necros do to you). Are you still actually capable of using them? I mean, I tried quaff recall potion after waking up from a necro sleep and I was maledicted BIG TIME and it said the potion failed. Tried it again...same thing. I couldn't move so I couldn't flee. I had some scrolls, but I figured with my mana like -47 I wouldn't be able to recite them anyway since my brain was gone. I also had some roots but didn't know if I could eat the things since I couldn't move and they were in my backpack. If you can't move can you get things from a pack? I gave up and just sat there and died since I had no idea at all what to do about it.

I'm sure there must be ways of surviving this stuff, but learning it all is really hard, must take literally years of experimentation. I think it's easier to just die and get back to doing whatever you actually enjoy doing in the game. Learning what all the items do, where to find them, how and when to use them...I just don't think I want to spend my limited playing time doing all that. If I can't flee and quaff a potion or run like a bat out of heck, I just die and get it over with. It's not fun dieing, but then neither is taking an in-depth 4-year course on CF items and roaming around for hours looking for them. (you could graduate from college with less study ). Ok I'm done with my whining now, so if you could answer my questions, I'd appreciate it.

Oh and to all you IMMS who work hard at making CF what it is, despite the above complaints I do really like playing the game. So thanks!

All that heal disease stuff to survice, best is to never get slept..but as a new player it is hard to avoid it often.

If a potion fails, it means its spell is hindered by something and if you are slept by a necromancer it is likely you are cursed.

From the CURSE helpfile: "It also renders the character unclean in the eyes of the gods and unable to RECALL."

So your return potion will never work, and that is why you quaff a teleportation potoin instead.(This might be annoying as you dont know where your body will be if you are blinded and dies but that can be fixed by a mage locating it.)

So, teleport potions are always always nice to have. And else know where the closest healer(like town healer) is and run to him fast.

I don't know if scrolls stop working when I don't have mana -- I've never had the opportunity to try. Then again, I don't think I remember scrolls using up mana, so maybe they'd have worked. Then again, maybe another spell was cast on you that would have stopped that scroll (or maybe other scrolls) from working.

I hope I'm not out of line for saying: the refresh potions I've run across mostly just restore movement, and not mana. And, not a lot of movement, just a little. There's probably others, though.

If you can't get things out of your backpack (this is slightly risky, but just about everything is), one thing you can do is drop *everything*, including the stuff you're wearing -- then you might be able to get something out of the backpack. What you're wearing counts towards your limits of what you can carry.

Finally, a help file you probably want to read (not just the bit about strength, but the part about dexterity):

http://arkham.carrionfields.com/display.html?hid=225&osea=stats

>But I personally think having to have
>potions, scrolls, roots, pills, and about a bazillion other
>concoctions on you just to survive every situation imaginable
>is a big waste of time. You spend lots of time going to get
>them, lots of money buying many of them, just to have them all
>sac'd when you die.

For the most part, I agree with you.

That said:

1) There are a few basic things that you really should always have on hand. I'd put recall potions and probably teleport potions on this list.

2) Other players are your ultimate preparation for almost any situation. If you're maledicted, a healer ally of yours may be able to save you. If you're put to sleep, a warrior ally of yours (who'd probably have to be in the same group or cabal for you to be able to communicate with them at that point, in most cases) might be able to charge in and give the necromancer something to worry about besides killing you. I could come up with things like this all day.

Roleplay, interact, make friends. I'm not saying wander around in an enormous gang at all times, but the friends you make can definitely save your life in times of trial.


>Refresh items: Having never used any of them, I'm assuming
>they do things like restore mana and movement right?

The refresh spell restores movement.

>If you
>have one on you and you are slept, plagued, cursed and all
>that good stuff (you know, like what hero necros do to you).
>Are you still actually capable of using them?

If they're potions and in your inventory, yes.

>I mean, I tried
>quaff recall potion after waking up from a necro sleep and I
>was maledicted BIG TIME and it said the potion failed. Tried
>it again...same thing. I couldn't move so I couldn't flee. I
>had some scrolls, but I figured with my mana like -47 I
>wouldn't be able to recite them anyway since my brain was
>gone.

You can (at least currently) recite without mana, FYI.

>I'm sure there must be ways of surviving this stuff, but
>learning it all is really hard, must take literally years of
>experimentation. I

Again, making friends can help you out here. Join a cabal if you can, form strong relationships with other players you group with. Figure out who seems to know more than you and ask them questions. If you group with a paladin who seems really on the ball, ask him what he'd do in situation X.

I agree with the status quo in this case, or else I'd have probably changed how it worked some time ago.

If you've ever been seriously ill, you've probably experienced a certain amount of lingering weakness even after the illness itself is gone. That's what I see negative mana/move as.

Even hypothetically, if plague stopped sapping at 0 mana/move, it'd probably have to be nearly uncurable to be as good. If you're not a Rager with no cabal powers you don't really have a legitimate bitch about not being able to deal with plague in most circumstances.