My fourth Maran. Past chars were

Benvale (Herald)
Lene (uncaballed)
Arilyn (unc)
Calcifer (unc)
Elsworth (Captain maran with lastname)
Lyrathuriel (unc)
Lysander (unc)
Kiel (maran)
Lothari (maran with lastname)
Olaf (maran with lastname)
(not sure if I got all of them)

All that said, I have a question for the IMMs, if it is possible for the IMMs to entertain such a question. I built my dwarf around Gates of the Forge. I figured, with 1250 hp, even a 15% dam redux would be effective, much more effective than for someone with 800 hp. Since dam redux effectively multiplies your hp. However, with quite a long time at hero, and some testing with allies sparring, somehow I never noticed -any- difference with about -170 AC overall (I tested against 'slashing' attacks, 'pierce' etc).

So the questions I'd like to pose are:

At what -AC specifically on your score sheet will Gates of the Forge start becoming effective?

Assuming a -200 AC for all types of attacks, what is the exact mathematical figure for the bonus dam redux? (sorry I like learning more about the game down to the finest details, but I don't think I can IMM).

Specific answers are very appreciated Vague answers are fine too if such information are not to be divulged. If the info is to be given only to me, send a mail to 'antchuah@hotmail.com'. Thanks

Whispers was okay, but with speckled pills and all that, I don't think I'll be taking Whispers with another char. Would have done much better with legacies like Cry of Thunder (rewield axes from str loss, heal, +dam, haste, pincer...), Greeting the Avalanche (making Hunsobo unhappy).

Now on to the interactions...

I love my enemies. I love having enemies around. There wasn't all that much to do after exploring so many different lowbie areas, collecting preps and all that. So pk is fun (even when I'm up against 5 evils - I just wait for them to get tired of taunting me then try to find one alone).

Thanks to all the Fort allies too, but one message to a particular char in Fortress... don't pick fights with neutral villagers. Even if you're a mage. I learned that the hard way with Kiel. And losing eq is okay... if you're that good, you'll get the eq back in no time. Plus, you're a goodie in a strong goodie cabal. There will be items for you left by other people.

I -think- I've cracked the 'how to be maran' code, but I'm not too sure. Maybe a Fort IMM (where is shokai dammit!) can explain

Fort powers are very good, but not as good as what many skilled players can get by playing other cabals (outlander, scion, empire when numbers are low). The beef I have with Fort is how many smart players (who do the most damage to evil chars) often are neglected for maranhood. I've seen quite a few, though I can understand it from my 'how to be maran' code that it is probably the RP and actions that do not let them climb the ladder. I could raise examples but I think I'll leave that alone. If I were leader I would not induct newbies. Harsh, but well... from a strategic standpoint it makes no sense to admit a soldier who would screw things up.

Special thanks to Niheriva, who gambled on decking out a lowbie applicant dwarf and gambled correctly We had some serious ownage with summon pincer ganks. Remember that time with you me and Rolinyah? That was disgustingly powerful.

Sadly, I think I'll probably be playing another Fort char now with the mass deletions going on in Fortress. I just hope that means I get lots of fights.

Post anything you guys like I'd love to hear comments, questions, even insults.

hey good times we have had together! i am sad you deleted. i learned alot from you

You were fun to be around and I always felt like you were a mack truck. I remember Elsworth beating my newbie ass when I was Ogrets, and you still do well. I was Murtalg too, from your younger days.

(Apologies this goes up so late, I've been out of town)

Gosh I still remember those fights with Elsworth Arial dagger specs are pretty awesome, and Ogrets was an orc if I remember right. Tough match up for you too. Elsworth was one of my earlier chars who actually started pking properly. Right after Calcifer, human conjie with angel really eats many classes alive.

Olaf was a mack truck because he had 70 ~ damroll, from gear. But little +str/dex, so he gets owned by assassins and other things, since nearly all warrior abilities become gimped once you lose your str/dex. It's a tradeoff.. and he was relatively immune to mages (resist arcane with svs is amazing). Sadly we lost Jaheal... I wonder what is up with all the Striking warriors. When will they nerf it?

It does't say anything about it in the Dwarven Help-File.

If it does, does it exceed what say an Elf would get for high Int Wis?

But I never had much trouble with nearly any spells, except maybe transmuter neuro (because I had crap svpar). Even geysers and engulfs would not hurt me that much, and I'd played invokers against vuln classes before.. those two hurt like hell. Also, I don't remember having much problems against the traditional sleep spellup necros. Disease/poison in particular was nearly impossible to land, I still remember those 20+ yells I made when sleeping.

Although, that said, when I was sub-hero with Divine saves I still regularly failed sleep saves against Surauk and some other random sleep-users.

Note on Resist Arcane: Helpfile says it also weakens beneficial magics too. So two-edged sword.. good for ragers I suppose. And during my short time with Olaf the Fort was short on mages.

I really wish I'd gotten to interact more with Olaf. I only had one encounter and it kind of soured the character from my pov. As Vessit, at the fortress. I can understand you not wanting to fight, but when you called in nexuns and I called you on it you were just like "whatever works". Left a very "meh" taste in my mouth. From everyone else's account it seems like you were solid.

Nah, I didn't call in any Nexuns. I hardly even remember the Vessit fight, and trust me, I would remember if I used 'unusual' means to kill someone (such as the certain neglected Fort cabal power trick).

Probably was a coincidence.

Because when I said something about you said something to the effect that you weren't above it.