The Poison Nec

[DukeTrout]

(snip)
I'm thinking running under the constant cloak of dim vision would be safer than using lower even if my killing speed will be a slower.  I'll use decrep for the bosses and ob knights.

I figure I can easily scrounge the following el-cheapo gear.

white wand with some useful skill, dim, ce, bone armor, clay golem, etc
necro shield with +1 skills or other useful skills and resists
lore hat +1 skills and lightning resists
stealth armor
necro amulet +1 skills
the rest of the gear will have + mana, life, and resists and eventually I hope to craft 2 rings, gloves, belt, boots, amulet

Wow, you pretty much described the gear of my scl Summoner to a "t." The funny thing is that he not only survives, but rocks in Hell. Unless you plan to run areas with a large number of small enemies (fallen/imps/flayers), you can level and MF and survive much much better with a Summoner than a Poison Necro.

If you do go with a Venomancer, get a decent mana pool and some fast cast. Chain casting Poison Nova is mana-intensive, but it is really effective against the little buggers.