Nethack Boast: Who can beat AC: -41 ?

[MattyBoy]

Sorry in advance for the boastful thread, but...

a - a blessed +5 silver dragon scale mail (being worn)
f - a blessed greased fireproof +4 cloak of magic resistance (being worn)
g - a blessed fireproof +5 pair of speed boots (being worn)
j - a blessed rustproof +5 helm of brilliance (being worn)
n - a blessed fireproof +5 pair of leather gloves (being worn)
N - a blessed +4 elven shield (being worn)

My former AC record was -35 (as above, but with cloak of protection), but now I have found a spoiler about paying priests large sums. This allowed me to reduce my natural AC from 10 to 2 by spending around 80,000GP judiciously.

[MattyBoy]

Juiblex didn't even manage to hit me

[LotC]

Are you playing in the annual Nethack tourney? If not, check it out here: http://nethack.devnull.net/

[Kassiopeia]

[MattyBoy]

LotC, I'll take a look.
Kassiopeia, don't encourage me.

Now I'm at -48. It looks like -51 would have been achievable, but I threw away cloak of protection for magic protection.

I don't know how to take it any further, so I will have to take my chances with my weak HP's (302 makes it hard to survive the air level).

a - a blessed +5 silver dragon scale mail (being worn)
f - a blessed greased fireproof +5 cloak of magic resistance (being worn)
g - a blessed fireproof +5 pair of speed boots (being worn)
j - a blessed rustproof +5 helm of brilliance (being worn)
v - a blessed fireproof +6 elven shield (being worn)
N - a blessed fireproof +4 pair of gauntlets of dexterity (being worn)
+1 ring protection, +2 ring protection

(edit: corrected achievable limit from -60 to -51)

[MattyBoy]

Jack the Ranger ascended with AC -56, boosted artificially by 5 from casting protection on myself.
Didn't use any life-saving this time,
but genocided mind flayers, dragons, liches, nagas, rust monsters, disenchanters, eels

Jack the Marksman St:25 Dx:18 Co:18 In:23 Wi:23 Ch:18 Neutral
Astral Plane $:0 HP:392(392) Pw:266(325) AC:-56 Exp:30 T:102503

Amulets
l - the blessed Amulet of Yendor
u - a blessed amulet of life saving (being worn)
Weapons
z - the blessed +5 Longbow of Diana
H - the blessed rustproof +6 Mjollnir (weapon in hand)
Armor
a - a blessed +5 silver dragon scale mail (being worn)
e - a blessed fireproof +6 elven shield (being worn)
f - an uncursed fireproof +5 cloak of magic resistance (being worn)
g - a blessed fireproof +5 pair of speed boots (being worn)
j - a blessed rustproof +5 helm of brilliance (being worn)
n - an uncursed rustproof +5 pair of gauntlets of power (being worn)
Rings
m - an uncursed +2 ring of protection (on right hand)
J - an uncursed +2 ring of protection (on left hand)
Tools
c - the blessed Orb of Fate (0:1)
p - a blessed bag of holding
A - the blessed Bell of Opening (0:1)
X - a blessed +7 unicorn horn

You used 6 wishes.

[MattyBoy]

Lotc, I took a look at that nethack site and found some really wild things going on in these tournaments:

Someone managed to ascend with only 49HP max! (cannot imagine how that works):
7 4717036 ic371-Val-Hum-Fem-Law ascended to demigoddess-hood. 35 [49] 3 California(0)

Someone was good at taming - see Details:
Goodbye roland the Demigod... You and the invisible Famine and the invisible Pestilence and the woodchuck and the invisible Archon and the saddled silver dragon went to your reward with 43288642 points.

Someone manage to get a +5 ring of protection somehow
AC to -54 (with a +5 ring).

A lawful gnome healer managed to ascend without killing any named demons besides Juiblex.
Here are the pets she carried with her:
The journey continued with (mainly) the following pets combinations:
- cats&dogs (Minestown and Sokoban)
- 2 demons, 2 golems (polytrap in the mines Dlvl:11)
- 2 demons, 2 dragons (mapped the Dungeons of Doom with them)
- balrog (for Gehennom, Vlad and the Quest)
- balrog, archon (Sanktum -> Plane of water)
- archon, guardian angel (Astral Plane)

[MattyBoy]

Talking to myself here, but...
Next character achieved my worst AC ever (13), thanks to cursed -5 pair of iron shoes.

[MattyBoy]

First Tourist Ascension - lessons learned

Points Name Hp [max]
5426395 Sly-Tou-Hum-Mal-Neu ascended to demigod-hood. 578 [583]


New Tricks learned:

- Wear a magician's robe, then you can cast spells without removing any armor (except shield)

- Use charm monster spell to gather hordes of pets (especially effective on big, dumb animals).
Combine with magic whistle to enter each new level surrounded by your pets.
The prime advantage of being surrounded by pets is that you can move faster than your foes by displacing a pet each turn.
Weak pets are an excellent buffer as they move slowly and don't get into any fights.
Power up your pets by zapping them with speed monster and make invisible wands.

- Gather lots of metal amulets/rings of magical breath/poly control/reflection, etc,
then Polymorph to Xorn,
then use enlightenment to see intrinsics,
then eat amulets and rings to acquire new intrinsics

- tinning kits are great for eating lots of giants, etc without getting too full.