DCSS: spellcasting question

[bcglassman]

how does crawl determine whether you hit with a spell ? is a missile
spell calculated the same as an actual missile ? is a touch spell the
same as unarmed melee ?

[Michal Bielinski]

Post by bcglassman
how does crawl determine whether you hit with a spell ?

With a roll against monster's evasion. Magic missile is an exception.

Post by bcglassman
is a missile spell calculated the same as an actual missile ?

No, different skills are involved.

Post by bcglassman
is a touch spell the same as unarmed melee ?

Nah. Touch spells like freeze or vampiric drain always hit. On
the other hand confusing touch requires you to make unarmed attack.

[Trent W. Buck]

Confusing touch requires you to make unarmed attack.

Does that include punches with the off hand (where one has learned UC,
is wielding a one-handed weapon and no shield)?

[bcglassman]

Post by Michal Bielinski
With a roll against monster's evasion. Magic missile is an exception.

Post by bcglassman
is a missile spell calculated the same as an actual missile ?

No, different skills are involved.

does that mean that my dex isn't a major factor for my spells hitting
their target?

I try to get my dex to 17 or 18 pretty quickly so that my spells will
hit as often as possible .... am I wasting stat points ??

[Martin Read]

Post by bcglassman
does that mean that my dex isn't a major factor for my spells hitting
their target?

Your Dex is *completely* irrelevant to spell accuracy.

Spell accuracy is fixed in some cases (e.g. Magic Dart which autohits,
and Iskenderun's Mystic Blast which is merely ludicrously accurate) and
determined by spell power in others. Spell power is completely unaffected
by Dex.

Post by bcglassman
I try to get my dex to 17 or 18 pretty quickly so that my spells will
hit as often as possible .... am I wasting stat points ??

Yes. Quite severely; as long as Str and Dex are both at least 8 (to
eliminate single-effect stat death), all of your elective stat-ups on
primary spellcasters (and most hybrids, for that matter) should go into
Int.