Survival

A new player will find that dying is easy in this game--so easy that there is an abbreviation that describes the most common type death: YASD (yet another stupid death.) Most deaths are avoidable via better tactics and planning, either by avoiding certain situations, or carrying and using the appropriate gear.

Most significantly

• Always carry an escape
• Always carry a source of healing, including curing of status effects
• Always avoid any monster that can kill you in a single player turn
• (Almost) always carry a means of doing damage at a distance.

Starting gear

• Your escape should be a stack of at least 5 scrolls of phase door (?PD), and a scroll of recall (?Recall)
• Your source of healing should be a stack of at least 5 potions of cure light wounds (!CLW)
• You may wish to carry a small stack of ammo (shot) or a dozen flasks of oil for damage at a distance. For most characters, this is enough to kill Bullroarer at CL 1.