Permadeath (PD) - Who is doing it?

[CKork]

Hi all,
was just wondering, how many of you really play a PD character (successfully)?
I just started to try it. I also got a good idea of what I want to go for and how to level up my char effeciently, at least for mid and end game.
But so far, I struggle to yet get even to level 10
So far, I have died with lvl 9 the latest, and never even leaving for anything beyond crossglen and fallhaven as well as snake cave.
It just seems, that in early game, nothing besides pups and snakes can be tackled without high risks.
I got enough Dmg to one-shot 25hp mobs, decent AC, but one unlucky wolf encounter right after a bed rest, couple of rounds and not hitting anything, and then failing to flee 7 times in a row, and this one mob gets the best of me.
RIP Pun Shlyne (unarmed monk aspirant)

Any tips to survive PD until lvl 20 and get past fallhaven? And how often did you die on your first tries?

[Antison]

Let me preface my answer by saying that I have been playing this wonderful game for close to 10 years!

Permadeath pisses me off beyond belief. I can't get past level 14 or so. I die and I want to throw the phone like a frisbee across the room. I really don't think this game lends itself well to permit death as you have to commit a lot of your time and resources to build up your character. and then have him be wiped out at the blink of an eye is very very very frustrating. I gave up after four or five attempts and I am now using the one save mode.

[rijackson741]

I haven't played AT in permadeath mode. But years ago I did play Moria, which only has that mode. It took me several years to beat it. The reality is, with permadeath you only have to make one mistake, or just get unlucky one time, and it's over.

[Tomcat]

I have also failed to reach above mid-teen level on PD so far, and have backed off to one-save, to practice reducing the number of deaths until I feel like I have it figured out. The new release should help some with leveling up with less puppy grinding, at least.

But it was expected to change the style of play some, and I agree that it puts a much larger premium on defense. Go more for DR and BC than before.

Go for Evasion skill so that you have a better chance of escaping a bad situation. The old attack-flee-save-attack cycle for when you're underpowered no longer works in PD, but if your power is sufficient, you can still attack-flee-decide with Evasion helping you. Reduced movement speed items (e.g cowards boots, etc), JoF/Mt and CS will help you fit bigger higher AP weapons into the attack-and-flee cycle also.

Be more careful to check out the opponent's stats when you first encounter, and don't be stubborn about never backing down. Be realistic, and if the tide turns against you anyway, live to fight another day.

These are the things I'm focusing on practicing before I go back to do full-on PD again. But I fully intend to get there.

[CKork]

Maybe not a bad idea.

I'm lvl 11 now. When fighting wolves, I get the feeling I will be in Crossglen and Fallhaven until I hit lvl 35

But hey, that's only 110k pups to go

Jokes aside. Snake cave maps 1 and 2 is the best I can do for now. One shotting most snakes helped alot.
But need to be careful not to get trapped. Half HP gone means head back and avoid fights. If it drops further, use healing stuff.
After all, it should be affordable. 110k pups drop a lot of meat to sell

[TheGx]

Permadeath? No thank you, I never want to have to restart, I can't imagine it - I have nightmares about it.

[CKork]

Yes, it can get frustrating.
I now passed lvl 13 for the first time. A defensive build really helps, along with some DR equipment. DR also increases the value of bread dramatically and helps to considerably incease XP gain due to less bed rests and longer runs to tougher/higher XP mobs and therefore also faster money
Balancing the character became way more meaningful now.
Wonder how far I'll get this time. Starting to farm massive amounts of gold now to up my jewelry, cause with the monk style, that's what I guess you need to get right frin the beginning.

[CKork]

Punn Chlyne the VII has now passed lvl 30.
Farming for a RolS really helps. The mobs there are doable starting lvl 20 with decent damage reduction. The XP there is great for this lvl, and lvl up in rather save environments desperately needed.
The ring itself really helps, too, so it's a meaningful activity for early game through and through.

And what would you do anyways? Other areas are still too dangerous due to high crit hit mobs (like in the maze, charwood mine, remgard, etc). And the Duleian road gets quite boring after grinding it to get to lvl 20.

What really got my heart rate up and pumping in the meantime was the crackshot quest. That was fun with a very high thrill due to the immediate danger and threat it caused.
Though, that was before I got my RolS. Now I`m becoming even more careful, since I definitely do not want to lose THAT one permanently

[CKork]

And that`s how fast it all can end...



Defenses and block help a lot, but if one crit mob gets the lucky shot and lands all hits with criticals in 2 consecutive rounds, you`re toast. Even in areas way below your level.

Therefore, dear Devs, it is my view that monster crits should be reviewed. In my humble opinion they are unbalanced compared to character health and stats of typical level chatacters, and insanely dangerous to PermaDeath.
For early game, please consider to reduce the critical multipliers to 1.2, maybe 1.5 and a max of 2.0.

Alternatively, maybe DR could be altered. Instead of getting deducted from the overall damage, it could be deducted before the critical hit multiplier is applied.
That might actually be the best and easiest thing to do.
Would make DR way more meaningful, even in late game. And balance the HP vs monster damage issue in early game alot.

Lets assume 30 health.
One mob deals up to 5 dmg with a crit multiplier of 3 (not unlikely in early game) and has 2 attack per round. That thing can kill you straight! Regardless the crit hit chance, the chance is there, and it does happen.
2 DR in current code:
(5×3-2)×2=26 dmg per round. Getting unlucky leaves you with 4 of 30 hp. Surviving that afterwards is unlikely.
2 DR in the suggested way:
(5-2)×3×2=18 dmg per round. Now even you got way unlucky here, you still have a good survivability. 12 hp left.

Also, it would make sense. If a Wolf tooth can only enter your skin for 2cm instead of 6cm due to thick leather armor (with DR) or your thick bark skin, a crit would also only be incurred with the part of the tooth that made it through.

Maybe something you`d like to consider for the future and to aid PermaDeath mode players

[Lacrom]

I agree that crits are hard while playing permadeath. My first permadeath character died while fighting lord erwyrn. I had loads of bonemeal an the best equipment I could afford. However, I only had 60hp and 72 BC. Lord erwyrn's AC is 80 if I remember well. He one-shot me. I hit him twice, missed one, and then I died... I was quite disappointed . My third permadeath character (the one I am currently playing) is lvl 20, after killing lord erwyrn at lvl 19 (only 1 more lvl) and I lost exactly 5 HP durrinnng the fight... i killed 1099 digs and i am still farming XP at gargoyle cave, in order to get RoLS