Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/17/84 chuqui version 1.7 9/23/84; site nsc.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!nsc!srm From: srm@nsc.UUCP (Richard Mateosian) Newsgroups: net.games.rogue Subject: Re: wraith and phantom help!! Message-ID: <2087@nsc.UUCP> Date: Sun, 16-Dec-84 05:19:47 EST Article-I.D.: nsc.2087 Posted: Sun Dec 16 05:19:47 1984 Date-Received: Mon, 17-Dec-84 03:21:17 EST References: <927@sunybcs.UUCP> <34500042@uiucdcs.UUCP> Reply-To: srm@nsc.UUCP (Richard Mateosian) Organization: National Semiconductor, Sunnyvale Lines: 29 Summary: In article <34500042@uiucdcs.UUCP> kaufman@uiucdcs.UUCP writes: > >You've got to be kidding! The only reason you gain a level is because that >weakness you felt was a level being sucked away from you! There is no way >you gain in the exchange. This is a correct assessment of expectation. There seems to be some confusion on this subject. In an exchange with a Wraith in which you only go down one level and then come up one level, your HP lose 1D10 then gain 1D10. This is a net change of between -9 and +9. This is independent of how much you went up the last time you increased level. Thus, for example, if you only went up by 1 HP when you reached 1300 experience, fighting a Wraith and only being weakened once can still cost you 9 HP, so it's not true, as someone else suggested, that this is a good tactic to use after a disappointing HP increase at a level change. If k is the number of times you are weakened by a Wraith before you kill it (k=>1), then the expected change in HP from the exchange is (1-k)*5.5 This expectation reaches a maximum of 0 when k=1. Thus, fighting Wraiths is fun if you like to gamble, but remember that you shouldn't expect an increase in HP. -- Richard Mateosian {allegra,cbosgd,decwrl,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo}!nsc!srm nsc!srm@decwrl.ARPA