PosChengband 4.0.2 Demigod Mutations

=====DEMIGOD/HUMAN MUTATIONS====
---(as of poschengband 4.0.2)---

AMBIDEXTERITY good if you want to dual wield even into the super endgame and don't want to use ego gloves of genji. Genji and ambidexterity do NOT stack; genji grants a larger bonus but monopolizes your glove slot. You only really need a source of ambidexterity (or genji) if you are determined to continue dualwielding through basically the entire endgame, as it shores up some of the major accuracy hit against higher ACs. Many characters with decent dualwield skillcaps can happily dualwield for a long time then transition to two-hands-one-sword or sword-and-shield for better accuracy against the high ACs common at depths 80+ and for the Serpent, so don't feel compelled to take this just because you're currently enjoying using two weapons.

ARCANE MASTERY generally bad on single-realm pure casters who already get their spells to extremely low fail rates but it is okay on hybrids or characters that also need to get a secondary realm's capstone spells performing at super low fail.

ASTRAL GUIDE pretty darn solid just for teleport/phase/strafing roulette, because you are less likely to get moved-on right after phasing or teleporting. Easy to underrate because you can't directly see the reduced turn cost. Really shines with characters that cast dimension door (e.g. Sorcery/Trump realms, Mindcrafters, some Psion builds) because DDoor normally takes more than a regular turn.

BLACK MARKETEER Not very good in terms of fighting of course, sometimes lets you grab some weird item early. Almost more important is that black markets have a high sell caps and buy every type of item so it can be nice for ease of life. I don't rate it highly but it is worth trying some time.

CULT OF PERSONALITY very strong lategame, as it reduces the need to spend turns and high consumables dealing with bad summon turns. The chance for enemy summons to be friendly depends on your charisma score, but you don't have to be a charisma-focused character for it to do a ton of work for you.

DEMONIC GRASP is very good on melee characters, as touch-to-drain-charges heals the enemy monster when it drains and it leaves you with empty _Destruction, _Teleport, _Healing, -TeleOther etc which can be bad tactically within a single fight and also forces you to take shorter trips to the dungeon.

EVASION very good because breath attacks are one of the main ways monsters can fuck you up at range or as a summon, and there are many breath types that have dangerous side-effects and/or are irresistible.

FANTASTIC FRENZY is bad. Or rather, it's okay but you really need to be great at melee and surrounded and able to take the hitpoint cost (if you're not a mana class), ideally using vampiric weapons and against life-bearing opponents to partially regain that health cost, and generally you just don't need help against those types of opponents. It *can* be nice sometimes, but I don't rate it highly. Warriors already get a similar power in Sword Dancing and berserkers get this exact ability, otherwise they would probably take this mut.

FAST LEARNER good on demigod for sanity purposes though obviously it doesn't impact combat ability in the late game. Bad on regular humans who already level so quickly.

FELL SORCERY underwhelming ~7% spellpower increase even on pure casters, but can be taken. Often a different magic-mut or a defensive/tactical mut is better.

FLEET OF FOOT very very good on pretty much all character types, except ones that already get the identical quick_walk (ninjas, mystics, burglary realm rogues, and some wild-talent random ability sets).

INFERNAL DEAL great early and then falls off hard as it does not scale. Great at letting melees chew through large groups without getting low, or letting casters AoE large groups without running out of mana. Feels awesome during the stage when it's most relevant. Don't overlook this just because it falls off! Most any character that is careful and survives to lategame *should* be able to win, so this type of early-midgame boost may be as good or better than a win-more type of endgame bonus.

LOREMASTER super feelbad, but it does let you not carry lore in non-mpa pcb. I don't rate it highly but YMMV.

MERCHANT'S FRIEND actually pretty neat and interesting, but I don't rate it as powerful. Definitely worth seeing sometime though. Lets you do stuff like put shop items on reserve to keep them from rotating away, and paying shops to rotate their inventory (without having to buy out the entire shop). Cute but not powerful.

ONE WITH MAGIC useful on characters that depend on major buff spells, because the Serpent (and other threats) is dispel-magic happy. So e.g. if you're a human mage of demon realm you may consider this to not lose your polymorph demonlord form as often.

PEERLESS SNIPER very very good on archer types. Monsters get "ticked off" when you damage them at range and that makes them forget their less-powerful abilities, making them much more dangerous. Less important for the final fight, more important for the late farming stage.

PEERLESS TRACKER the effect can be replicated with enough of the right devices or by being an elf, but it does free up multiple inventory slots and that's nothing to sniff at.

POTION CHUGGER great in the lategame and okay earlier. Easily underrated in terms of combat power, it lets you have more turn sequences where you get to quaff and then attack instead of quaff, take damage, and quaff again. Also lets you re-buff potion effects if you get dispelled or they run out, without burning full turns, which can often let you stay in the fight without phase/tele to rebuff and heal. It does stack with the potionmaster bonus.

SACRED VITALITY 20% bonus to healing. Especially nice on classes that cast healing spells. If you're not casting healing magic and want a healing bonus, Demonic Grasp (to protect your _Holiness or _Healing staff charges) or Potion Chugger (to spend less energy on quaffs) may be better for you.

SPEED READER like potion chugger in some ways and like astral guide in others. It's okay. Early on it's good with ?Phase, ?Tele, ?TeleLevel, and a package of detection/utility scrolls if you don't have good rods yet. Later it lets you read the major scrolls like ?*Destruction* and ?Mass Genocide quickly so you don't have to teleport-roulette out...but often one is using the (lower spellpower, but recharing) staff and not carrying the scroll until the final fight, so maybe a bit too win-more. It does stack with the scorllmaster bonus.

SUBTLE CASTING the magic version of Peerless Sniper, it's similarly critical for ranged casters in mid- and lategame without mattering as much for the serpent fight.

TREAD SOFTLY bad, the bonus is too small, easily replicated by +stealth equipment, unnecessary overkill on already-stealthy characters, and worthless if you're wearing aggravation which is fairly common for nonstealthy builds later anyways.

UNTOUCHABLE bad, the bonus is too small

UNYIELDING bad, the bonus is too small

WEAPON VERSATILITY very good if you're a class that has low skill caps with weapons you want to use, or if there's some "icky wield" weapon you want to use.

WEIRD MIND a lategame luxury, but cosmic horror effects can be pretty brutal in poschengband, especially on a bad summon turn.