Forum:Making a pet unicorn stronger

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I have a pet unicorn (on my own machine) and it seems to be capped out at level 6 and 48 hp. Considering that it is a herbavore and avoids wraith corpses, is there any way I can get this beast a bit stronger? I want to ride it through the endgame if I can (I will genocide black dragons just to avoid my saddle being destroyed), but 48 hp seems far too weak for that.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated! --Aarnott 17:35, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

None, so far as I know. As you said, it won't eat wraith corpses; neither will it drink potions of gain level, or swallow wraiths whole, or any of the other means of gaining levels. If you're playing SLASH'EM, you could zap it with a wand of (extra) healing. That will give it one extra max hp per zap, so with blessed charging can add probably 40+ hp before the wand explodes.

Otherwise, check out the riding page for other good monsters to ride in the end game. Ki-rin are the best, but they require either a wish, being lawful, or the ability to brave extreme danger to tame. Plus, if you're not a knight, you'll have to tame it again after mounting it five times. A good all-around mount is a mountain centaur: they're almost as fast as unicorns, but can eat anything, will wear a shield and/or amulet (which will protect against black dragons), and are not particularly hard to find and/or tame. -Ion frigate 21:28, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

In SLASH'EM, the Yeoman can also keep non-eating pets tame by using their "Calm Steed" technique. If you're playing SLASH'EM, Pegasus is also a good mount for the end-game, and doesn't have the same restrictions as a Ki-rin to tame (the trick is getting him to appear - it requires killing Medusa in such a way that she leaves a corpse, so the usual "reflect her gaze and turn her to stone" method won't get you Pegasus). Also, if you're worried about black dragons destroying your saddle, why not just ride a black dragon! Note: I do not know if having a black dragon mount will actually protect your saddle from being disintegrated just because the dragon itself is resistant --The Cheshire Cat 14:19, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

Calm steed doesn't actually do anything. Also, any polymorphable monster can be given reflection, with enough time to spend. In vanilla, get a tame intelligent monster to wear the amulet and then polymorph it into your desired steed. In SLASH'EM, polymorph your desired steed into an intelligent monster and get it to wear an amulet of reflection. It will polymorph back and still be wearing the amulet. -- Qazmlpok 14:35, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the tips. I was playing vanilla and I ended up needing to ditch the unicorn in favor of a Ki-rin with a wish, as recommended. It died in the Astral plane, but was very valuable all the way there. My rogue was named Batman and I managed to ascend him last night (after wishing for a new black unicorn on the high altar and naming it "Batmobile", which is what the original was named). --Aarnott 20:03, 26 April 2011 (UTC)