On Mon, 12 Jul 1999, Roop Dirump wrote:

> Everybody wants to raise strength, and the strength raising items are
> expensive because of it. So be smarter than everybody else and get items
> that raise the stats that are lowered by being encumbered. Or do what I
> do... and get drunk.

Ever since I moved to bronze plate (slowly switching it with
steel plate), I get the impression that mobs get an attack
bonus if you are close to encumbered but not there yet. I am
regularly being hit for close to max damage, while my lower
level friends in banded seem to be taking less. The only one
who seems to take more is my monk friend, who is 6 levels
behind me and has woven/mesh (leather/chain equivalent for
damage absorbtion).

> I have a thief friend who is amazing to watch. Her agility is past 100, and
> she is convinced that other rogues complain so much because most probably
> are under the impression that strength is the ONE statistic, others
> meaningless. She is always avoiding blows, and wears many items to increase
> her agility. (O and how she loves backstabbing and my ability to taunt with
> a lullaby)

My agility is 99, 117 when my ranger friend casts feet like
cat on me. I can't say if I'm that much better at avoiding
blows - if there is a difference it is subtle. The monk list
speculates that the amount of weight you're carrying ties in
to your chance to dodge, even if you're not encumbered. I
have not seen myself dodge in quite a while.

Maybe I'll try borrowing my monk friend's backup mesh armor
for a night and see how it goes compared to plate.

--
John H. Kim
kim@...