DCSS Junk potions and scrolls

[Numeron]

Finally got around to playing Crawl in the last week, and loving it. On my best character so far, a Minotaur Beserker, I carefully cleared most of the Orc Mines (made the mistake of rushing in last time and died after being swarmed quick), now halfway through Lair about to Snake Pit.

Anyway Im at the point where the bounds of my inventory are mattering, carrying all these small hand axes for throwing is a pain, javelins are best but keep disappearing on me. What Id like to know is if these apparently useless scrolls and potions are good for anything or can I ditch them for space and less weight? In nethack for example, scrolls can be blanked, and potions turned water by dipping into fountains, is this possible in Crawl? Are blank scrolls useful and is there even water potions anyway? Is there anything else interesting I can do with any of it?

-Numeron



EDIT: Just discovered potions can be quivered, and therefore assumedly thrown

[Omnivorous]

Yeah you can throw some potions. I believe blank scrolls are completely useless. I don't think you have any use for potions of water either. (Unless perhaps it can put out fire)

I've played Crawl Stone Soup alot lately too. My best char(s) is Minotaur Berserker too. The last one I basically comitted suicide with because it was starting to feel too easy. Got one rune and it scored 120k *proud*

How's your MiBe doing?

[corremn]

Some junk potions can be used with the evaporate spell. E.g water potions can make steam clouds.  But not a berzerker of course.  Apart from a few exceptions potions are for drinking and scrolls for reading.

Anyway remember to stash good items. Generally I only keep around 2 scrolls of blink, teleport, and healing potions in my inventory and store all the rest in the temple.   This way you wont lose them to freezing ahd fire attacks and save valuable space in the inventory.

Most items in your inventory are colour coded. Find out which ones are junk and drop them, stash eveything else you are not using.

[Omnivorous]

I have a hard time managing a stash.. :x It kindof feels like: 1) If I need it, I want it in my backpack, not across the dungeon! 2) If I DONT need it, I don't want to walk across the dungeon to stash it either! xD

I always make stashes, but I never pick anything out of them

(I know about the auto-travel. It's an awesome function! )

[Numeron]

I currently have a stash on Lair:2 after reading that its a good spot thanks to only animals spawning there, who wont steal anything...

So far though the stash only contains those serious weapons I dont want in the hands of enemies, though I probably can do without many of my utility items (like identify scrolls etc) and duplicate wands as well...

[corremn]

There is nothing worse than dumping excess stuff only to find that something has picked it up and used it against you.  My stashes are huge but at least only I can use it.

[Rabiat]

Somehow I managed to miss this thread all along...

*SPOILERS*

You can safely ditch Scrolls of Random Uselessness, Curse Weapon/Armour, and Paper. Scrolls of Noise and Fear are almost useless, too. If you're carrying Remove Curse, you can stash your Detect Curse scrolls. Scrolls of Fog, Vulnerability, Immolation, and Torment have their uses, but they involve some risk to your character, so I usually stash or ditch those as well.

Some scrolls can be used as soon as you find them. This goes for Scrolls of Enchant Weapon/Armour, Recharging, Acquirement, and Vorpalize Weapon. You may be tempted to save these for 'later', but in my experience, 'later' usually turns out to be right after you were blasted by a fireball.

You can safely ditch Potions of Confusion, Slowing, Paralysis, (Strong) Poison, Degeneration, and Decay (unless of course you have the Evaporate spell). Potions of Porridge and Water are actually food, and Water is nearly useless. Potions of Experience or Gain Str/Int/Dex can be taken right away; the same goes for Mutation if you're feeling lucky. Potions of Berserk Rage may be redundant for Berserkers, Potions of Magic are useless to non-spellcasters, and potions of (Coagulated) Blood are useless to non-vampires as far as I know.

Safe places for stashing are the Temple, Lair:2, and the bottom level of the Hive. It's not necessary to collect and stash anything and everything just to remove threats. Do remove curare needles, most wands (especially draining), weapons of distortion or pain, vampric weapons, weapons of venom if you don't have poison resistance, weapons of electrocution if you don't have insulation, orc slaying if you're an orc, dragon slaying if you're a draconian, and holy wrath if you're undead.

If you're absolutely sure you don't need an item, you don't want anything to wander off with it, and can't stash it, you can throw it into deep water or lava. You can in fact throw any item with the "f" command, if you press "f*" to select any item from your inventory.

This all assumes you've somehow been able to identify everything you find, which isn't going to happen. It's probably wise to take unidentified wands, and weapons/missiles/armour with special descriptions, to stash them somewhere safe.

Oh, and another good way to save inventory space is to use darts and rocks for throwing in stead of daggers, spears, or hand axes. To avoid being burdened, try dropping some items off a heap in your inventory; use "d#i" where "d" is the Drop command, "#" is a number, and "i" is the letter of the item to drop.

[Antsan]

Scrolls of Random Uselessness are actually good for training spellcasting when you don't have that skill.