Mon Feb 16 10:45:23 2004


At 7 o'clock AM, Day of the Bull, 1st of the Month of the Grand Struggle
on the Theran calendar Tchzarch perished, never to return.

Ah well. There goes a character that bored me beyond recognition theese last days.

This was my attempt at prooving evil conjurers didn't suck, but obviously to those who met me I failed. Scion rocked as a cabal as always, I even suicided against 4 ragers to get that real oppressed feeling once. Not to mention the actually very neat powers a scion gets.

Regardless. The conjurer class for evils is interesting with the new demon conjuring code I do however wonder if anyone ever uses morosa demons? They cast chain lightning alot and it will get the conjurer in battle with the demon which is just worthless. I guess if you only fought groups of mobs or people it might be useful as it won't be as likely to arc to you.

Once reaching 40 I did become a nightgaunt machine sadly, which I did not intend for (and deleted with 5k till 41, so I was working on going on). The nightgaunt spell is sickening though, while an evil conjurer without protection and a basic set of armor will have a very hard time killing a normal player of any class the evil conjurer can nightgaunt anyone (aside from perhaps paladins and shamans) and bring them near dead to their feet. That is an awesome power.

But what's with devils beeing so worthless compared to demons? The damage output from a demon is far higher than that of a devil, and unless you're prepped up your ears you will not have the time for it to cast any of it's things, especially if it isn't very happy (which is kind of hard to maintain in a situation where you expect a raid, for instance). So how can one spell every two rounds compare to a demon which not only hits hard AND casts spells on the same time also tracks the target (which is what I consider one of the greatest strength with conjurers)? If I ever make an evil conjurer again I will definetly make it chaotic.

One neat benefit of devils is that they cast aura quite quick now though, so I'm happy to notice the imms actually listen to some response. It should also be mentioned that I only worked with bearded devils and not the higher ranking devils.

Farewells:

All of scion: Good luck.

Mekantos: I walked around the Chasm when I got inducted but I didn't find anything about -that-, added recently perhaps? A pity I never got down to posting my little study of the demons.

My tribunal fan-club: I would've kept gaunting you again and again and again ;) I know you were scared ####less.

Well, back to the drawing table.

Whilst a nightgaunt was probably going to mean certain death, it just meant that we (your trib victims) didn't hang around places we could be gaunted from at night without escape. You could argue that we did that because we were scared. You could also argue that we weren't scared because we knew you wouldn't get us if we took precautions.

Unfortunately, you knew I was fighting on the main continent that time, and equally you knew I lived on the main continent, so I was pretty low on options when you sent your nightgaunt. Necros aren't the best at resisting nightgaunts with lots of levels on them. Nevertheless I should have done better upon arrival. It didn't help that my guardcall attempt went through as I landed at your feet and that I quaffed a potion to escape before I registered where I was. I'm not sure norecall mazes should be gauntable to, balance wise, but that's one for the imms I guess. Nevertheless, having two tracking pets + one pc chasing me around in the maze before the mobs decided to join in too left me running around like a headless chicken.

The problem is that whilst many classes can fight off gaunts, rendering them fairly ineffective against those classes (eg communers, many melee classes), many cannot do so with great effectiveness and have to rely on evasion or luck to survive (e.g. aps, necros, orcs). And those that cannot fight off gaunts tend to take so much damage in the initial attack that succumbing doesn't really help much at all.

If it happened again, I was planning on using a pwk or a sleep. Sleep would still leave me with having to deal with a servitor (good choice btw -- but I felt a slight sense of satisfaction as I died that the same choice was what got you wanted in the first place). Pwk is probably less likely to succeed, and wasn't an option at the time anyway, but has a much greater *haha* factor if it does.

As far as being scared ####less, I came after you for revenge on your ground and only Jyslin prevented you dying (though I am pretty sure you were afk since you didn't wake up when I started casting on you, so it wasn't exactly mad skills on my part), so I'm not sure that it totally applies. However, if you apply a full-saccing policy to me because that's what your character would do, I was happy to apply a "take advantage of slow to react victim" because that's what my character would do to someone who pissed her off in the manner that you did. I was, however, very careful to avoid fighting on your terms again after that first experience.

Overall, I'm glad you are gone, because whilst "fear" is a debatable point, you were by far the biggest problem in my life. Nightgaunts are just not fun, and doubly so if the conjie has a raven.

I stand by that flag I stuck on you. I'd half been waiting for you to gaunt me because of your reaction, but unfortunately you didn't until the time was right (or wrong, depending on whose point of view you look at it from).

If I had to say what the point of a devil is, one point is against people like paladins and shamans, since devils can, for example, rot. Equally if you are heavily protected it seems to me that a devil's maladictions are going to cause more problems for a paladin than a demon's attacks will. Devil might also be better when defending at your inner against classes that have difficulty redirecting at you. After all, when a demon hurts them they can go away and heal, coming back later. With a devil, they might not be able to.

First off, thanks for replying with such a lengthy note. I also aknowledge that you acted according to law, it did not make Tchzarch any less pissed. I didn't full loot/sac anyone else and well, to tell the truth I didn't do it to you either since you arrived quickly.

That time I gaunted you I had my quasit demon familiar stand just a step south of you (in the graveyard) and scan at you, so I knew you had a wall up which I was waiting to fall down, then suddenly you were gone and I thought "bummer, I'll go out on eastern and see if she's there", and naturally you were, and then I heard the yells and realised you were in combat. I did not attempt to send a gaunt after you after the first one however.

As far as devils go, yes a rot or a wither go a long way but the way things look right now a higher echelon devil must controlled for those things to happen (it aint happening with a beared). Still, in a normal pk I would probably go with a demon over those, even in a raid situation since the demon tracks them, I just need to flee out, return and start lashing at attacker or whatever.

True, the devils maledictions may kill them when they are elsewhere but that means I have to fight them for a few rounds for it to cast something of use and in that time the demon may very well force them back and will also track them making it very easy for me to just wait for their return upon which the demon will still track them. Still, I didn't get to play with the ice devils which may or may not have changed my opinion.

Good luck.

Don't lie, he's dead now, at least give him something to feel good about. I remember waiting a good 30min whilst you and that Duergar discussed possible places to rank where he couldn't gaunt you, you could see him coming, and he'd have trouble finding you. Then every second word whilst we ranked was "If he comes, we face him here" or "You do this, I do that" etc.

You might claim you weren't scared, but as a character, you sounded terrified.

Good job, Tchzarch, it's a pity you deleted so soon.

I'd written a long reply, but I'm not going to get into a long argument on someone's farewell thread and I don't want to compromise my character either.

Suffice to say, the place we picked suited our needs. The tactics we picked suited our needs, and if you were in the conjurer's pk I think you'd have appreciated the value of them more than you did. I can tell the duergar knew what he is doing, but it never hurts to know how the other person will react when a fight comes. We achieved what we set out to achieve.

I don't think Tchzarch "feared" my character at all. Yet Tchzarch too after the first time I attacked him put up deny summon when he sat in his cabal, which has its own drawbacks (such as if someone decides to raid his cabal). I could have called him scared for that, but that isn't how Baendra's mind works. She sees such things as intelligent and orderly actions.

I'm sure Tchzarch feels good enough that he killed me and I didn't kill him. I don't think he needs his ego stroking in the way that a less mature player might.

Mekantos: I walked around the Chasm when I got inducted but I didn't find anything about -that-, added recently perhaps? A pity I never got down to posting my little study of the demons.

Nope, the information has been there for as long as I can remember. All
you would need to do is give a closer inspection to the places that I am
sure you already searched.

As for the study on demons, that would have been superb. So few people
put forth that kind of effort, which is sad because the Immortal Staff
appreciates it. Maybe you could save it for a future occasion?

Good luck with the next.