Pastamancers are the most painful class to run in Bad Moon. Not that they're truly "hard" per se, but they are the slowest, the most expensive, and they need to be played somewhat differently than the other classes if you want to accomplish anything approaching finesse. I thought I'd share some advice gleaned from my personal experiences, and maybe save someone, somewhere, some heartache. Before we start, dear reader, have you read Achtung and Snooty's BM guides yet? If not, you might as well do so now. Everything written there will apply to a Pastamancer run as well... finished? Good.
The BasicsSo, the initial strategy for our Pastamancer career is going to be, adventure one quest behind your level, and hit things with the biggest stick you can find. Yeah, it sucks... but one does what one has to. Spells simply won't be that powerful at this point, and using Entangling Noodles + melee attack is probably going to be just as effective. It'll certainly be cheaper. Restoring MP is a pain, so if I used any skill aside from Noodles or Bandages it was mostly for bosses or against the odd elemental monster. The Bad Moon Pastamancer rewards flexibility. Or, maybe it just punishes inflexibility. Whatever. Use "Bengal Balm" and the "Crown of the Goblin King" to boost Muscle if you're having trouble hitting things, and just go slowly and carefully. The real spell-casting phase doesn't start until you get the meat from finishing the Level 9 quest. I can't say that I particularly missed Cannelloni Cannon before that. However, from the Level 10 quest onward, I found I was using Cannon, Mortar, and/or Fettucini almost all the time. And as a result, I was constantly auto-selling junk items in order to fund the next set of Magical Mystery Juice. Somehow, it always seemed to work out though, if just barely.
So by end of the run your skill set should look like:
Ravioli Shurikens - Important; pick up sometime level 2 or 3.
Entangling Noodles - Very important; get it sometime levels 2-4.
Lasagna Bandages - Useful; buy anytime after level 3 that you can afford it .
Cannelloni Cannon - No rush; buy it with L9 quest money.
Pastamastery - Crucial; buy immediately when available, level 5.
Springy Fusilli - Important; when you can afford it after level 6.
Stuffed Mortar Shell - No rush; buy with L9 quest money. (You may want to get a chefstaff instead, see below for details)
Fearful Fettucini - Useful; sneak into the bedroom and get it sometime level 7-9 if you can.
The Stench elemental cookbook was my best friend during the run. Snag one on your way through the Haunted Library. Not only is it free, it can annihilate most monsters in the Haunted Bathroom/Ballroom. Use Entangling Noodles + Ravioli Shurikens(x2) and you can kill almost everything without taking damage. You'll feel like you're playing a class that doesn't suck! Stench is great against monsters during the Friar quest and in the Cyrpt as well, if you haven't beaten them yet. I spent a
lot of adventures in the Manor, and then went back to finish quests/bosses at a higher level. I highly recommend that you spend at least some of your adventures there during levels 7-11. If you're the adventurous type, you can even spend time in the Haunted Bedroom using Noodles+Fettucini to kill nightstands. Just make sure you pick up enough old wallets and change purses to cover the cost of your spells. In terms of other books, the Kickback Cookbook gives you a bit more power against the non-elemental monsters you'll encounter levels 10+, and the Glacial Grimoire helps to kill Hippies/Fratboys and HitS monsters. Those three books should more or less cover your needs for the entire run.
Using SpellsGetting items with bonus spell damage is pretty critical if you're going to be using spells. The "shiny butcherknife" is available from the Haunted Kitchen very early on. It gives you +5 spell damage, and makes spaghetti spear actually worth casting. During the Cyrpt quest, I recommend stalling in The Defiled Cranny until you get a "huge spoon", which is +10 damage. At Level 9 I recommend getting yourself a chefstaff.(details below) If you decide not to get the staff, you might want an "oversized pizza cutter" or a "star spatula" which are +13 and +15 spell damage respectively.
Basic MP restoration is taken care of with Magical Mystery Juice from the Guild Store, but you can also buy "Jumbo Dr. Lucifer" from Hell's Kitchen. It reduces your HP to 1, so watch out, but it gives you 9-10 MP for every HP it takes away. It can be an awesomely cheap way to fill up your MP during the middle levels. If you've got Lasagna Bandages, you can heal right back up again. It uses up 1 fullness, but gives back 2 avg. adventures, so it's not really that bad as far as food goes early on. Imp Ale also gives you a few MP, and also isn't all that bad if you need something to fill up your liver.
During the Level 12 War Quest, you can use the "communications windchimes" (or PADL phone if you're a fratboy) to regain a lot of MP once every few combats. Use it during a fight on the Battlefield, and if your HP is above 25% and your MP is below 25%, your MP will be filled and you won't lose the item. So when you're running low, use the last of your MP to heal with Lasagna Bandages, then use windchimes to refill. Take care though; if you use it too often the item will get taken away. It's relatively safe (~70%) to use it again after 7 adventures, and completely safe after 10. If you do lose it, you can get more by adventuring in the Battlefield in the other side's uniform. But that's a pain, so try to avoid it by being careful.
ChefstaffThe
Staff of the Black Kettle is now craftable in Bad Moon. It boosts the power of your spells considerably, making the later parts of the game significantly easier. Details of it's construction can be found via the wiki link above, or in Manial's post down below. If you decide you want it, you'll need to make a slight change to the skill set I listed above. After the Level 9 quest, skip getting the skill "Stuffed Mortar Shell" and buy "Spirit of Rigatoni" instead. The staff will increase the power of your Cannelloni Cannon to be more damaging than Stuffed Mortar Shell would be without it, so you're not losing anything. And, Cannon costs significantly less MP than Mortar. I've tried this out myself, and found I had
much less trouble with running out of meat to buy MP restoratives. I highly recommend it.
Food/BoozeThe Spice Ghost is awesome. 1-3 spices per day (reliably and without farming) lets you cook
lo meins! You will also need the Hippy outfit for herbs and olives, but you should probably get that anyway. And, naturally you'll want a chef-in-a-box to cook all those elaborate recipes. Oh, and obviously, you need to get Pastamastery as well. I did mention that right? Pastamastery is one of the precious few advantages that the Pastamancer has over the other classes. And you know they're talking about you behind your back. The self-righteous jerks. We'll show them. We'll show them all. Just as soon as we can get our hands on some plutoni... um... uh... well anyway, you need Pastamastery. When you run out of spices you can cook boring spaghetti, delicious noodles, and all that good stuff. Simple right?
. . .
OK, so assembling all that isn't exactly simple; but you're at your weakest from levels 3-7, and this gives you something productive to do while you're putting off all that quest nonsense. I think I neglected to (re)kill the Bonerdagon until Level 9. And it really does pay off later. Getting a good and reliable source of food is more important than finishing quests quickly. The only quest during this period that I can advise really pushing to get through is the Friar's quest. Steel liver gets you ~10 more turns per day even with only a mediocre booze supply, and that adds up if you can get it early.
The Naughty SorceressA particularly useful trick for killing the NS as a Pastamancer (or as a Sauceror) is using the combat item "macramé net". You buy it from the Hippy Camp during the L12 war quest, and you'll want 8-10 of them. If you're on the Frat side, the "boom box" does the same thing. To start, you fight her 4 times and lose on purpose, weakening her skill/item blocking ability. Apparently 4 times gives you the maximum effect, so don't go overboard. Then, I usually just beat her first form using Entangling Noodles plus 3-4 casts of Fearful Fettucini. If she blocks too many spells, run and try again until you get lucky. On the second form start throwing macramé nets. She might block one or two; but once one hits it will do 90-100 damage and stun her. She may still block occasionally, but she won't deal damage, making her fairly harmless. Use nets and maybe a blast or two of Fettucini to finish her off. Then, hopefully you remembered to make the WAND... if so, celebrate!
final words for now...Comments are welcome, as is any additional advice people think I left out. Cheers.
