Well, today marks something of a milestone in my ADOM career. I have finally killed one of the 5 big bosses in the game. And the funny thing is, I did it with a level 17 elven archer (game’s level cap is 50).
I’ve never actually played an archer before. Yup. Never. I’ve been playing the game off and on since shortly after v0.9.1 was released back in ‘96. I’ve played priests that have gotten to level 32 or so, I’ve gotten necromancers and elementalists into their 20’s but have never managed to beat the water temple (location of the Snake from Beyond).
This char has been obscenely lucky. He found a pool on level 1 of the puppy cave and drank 4 times, receiving: teleportation control, poison resistance, the “lucky” intrinsic, and a wish. Yup. Level 1 char with a completely non-cheesed wish. So I’ve had the advantage of wearing seven league boots for the entire game.
Archer + running really fast = nothing got into melee with me until I hit around level 10.
I found a helm of teleportation somewhere around experience level 8, and accidentally robbed a ring shop at level 12 – earning myself a whole bunch of crud to offer my god AND a pair of rings of speed. Between the rings, talents, and my high dexterity, the char has 119 speed when unencumbered.
(10:36:37 AM) Betsy: i like how you “accidentally” robbed the ring store
(10:36:47 AM) Ammon: i DID
(10:36:51 AM) Ammon: i teleported by accident!
(10:36:59 AM) Betsy: well, nice work anyhow.
(10:37:17 AM) Ammon: my standard behavior in shops is to pick up everything and stack it in the corner
(10:37:23 AM) Ammon: gives the keeper more room to restock
(10:37:35 AM) Ammon: so i was walking to the corner when my teleport fired
(10:38:47 AM) Ammon: and i hit Z to cancel – which i forgot didn’t cancel the teleport, it cancelled my choosing where to land
So, 20% faster than normal energy recharge plus boots that make walking only cost 500 energy (as opposed to 1000) plus teleportation plus archer class ability that reduces the cost of firing ranged weapons down to 800 and talents that reduce it to 640… he’s a flying machine gun 
Oh, and I got a ring of invisibility at level 15 and just picked up an adamantium tower shield (+11 DV) on the way in to kill the snake.
The scariest part of the whole experience of killing the snake – my guy can’t swim. And the level is no-teleport… I took 80 damage crossing a whopping two squares of water. Thankfully, I’ve been able to hoard potions since I don’t tend to get hit very often.
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Screenshot
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You hit the Snake from Beyond and kill it. [+21235xp]
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Allaryin St:18 Le:16 Wi:15 Dx:20 To:11 Ch:12 Ap: 7 Ma:14 Pe:25 L+
DV/PV: 66/18 H: 69(101) P: 46(46) Exp: 17/298945 D: 20 Sp: 104
Poisoned Satiated Burdened
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A bit of cleanup to ding 18 and a lot of running and teleportation later:
The Snake from Beyond corpse is consumed by a bright light and disappears. You feel spiritually invincible.
