Despite having played this game for years, I just discovered something. As a low level character. If you are a mage or a rogue, it is possible to make a build that doesn't start with a weapon AND doesn't have enough burliness to do any damage when kicking. Yesterday I made a: Perception Archaeologist Rogue Scientist Emomancy Tinkering Alchemy Paranormal Investigator After having chosen the skills I wasn't surprised that I didn't start with a weapon. What surprised me though was that even with 7 , I didn't have enough for a single point of , meaning my kicking attacks did nothing. Because these skills didn't start with any spells which did damage. I was extremely lucky, considering it is GR. I got down to 2 health and kept using the emomancy teleport away while I healed and used traps plus starting items. I survived using the starting sonic wand and throwing potions. And only 2 rooms over, there was a room of requirement, and praying while selecting, I made a crafting machine which luckily had 2 cheap hematite from which I crafted a very sizeable wrench that gives 5 in tinkering. TLDR: How much would it be to ask that all builds start with the dagger that has 1?
While I feel your plight, this game has always been 70% skill, 30% luck in terms of item drops. Gaining momentum with at least decent gear on floor one is harder IMO than clearing the next few floors, probably up to floor 4.
The game is not designed to be equally easy with every possible build, nor would that necessarily be desirable. If you want to make the game easier on yourself, you can, or if you want to make it incredibly hard, you can do that as well. And sometimes I find myself in the same situation as you were, without a weapon, just trying to survive. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. It's part of the fun. The bigger the challenge to overcome, the more rewarding it is when you do.
Trust me. the game would be plenty difficult with that puny dagger. Even with the Wrench/Mace that does 5, I am having a heck of a time surviving.
It's a pretty normal thing, really. I begin about half of my games armed like that. That 80% of these end after less than 200 turns is another thing, but the remaining 20% still are fun. On that note, teleport on top of the doors, scout the room, decide where to go. Repeat until you find some sort of weapon or enough food to last you through killing single diggles and batties to get to level 2 (assuming there is no weapon on level 1, since then level 2 is the place to go).
