I wanted to do something less-crazy than a melee challenge but in the same spirit, so I decided to see how far I could get using just a pistol and maxing Son of a Gun before going onto other traits. Armor and other goodies are fair game; you just can't pick up or use any weapons but your trusty 10mm or variations thereof. This is what my first run got me:
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DoomRL (v.0.9.8 (WIN-S)) roguelike post-mortem character dump
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Pistolwhip, level 4 soldier, killed by a demon
on level 10 of the Phobos base.
He survived 13621 turns and scored 7485 points.
He killed 134 out of 206 hellspawn. (65%)
-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------
Health -6/50 Experience 5853/4
ToHit +0 ToDmg Ranged +0 ToDmg Melee +0
-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------
Finesse (Level 1)
Son of a gun (Level 3)
-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------
[a] [ Armor ] blue armor [0/2] (3%)
[ Weapon ] pistol (2d4) [4/6]
[c] [ Boots ] steel boots [2/2] (100%)
-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------
[a] green armor [1/1] (100%)
green armor [1/1] (100%)
[c] 10mm ammo (x78)
[d] 10mm ammo (x100)
[e] 10mm ammo (x100)
[f] 10mm ammo (x100)
[g] 10mm ammo (x100)
[h] 10mm ammo (x100)
10mm ammo (x100)
[j] 10mm ammo (x100)
[k] 10mm ammo (x100)
[l] 10mm ammo (x100)
[m] 10mm ammo (x100)
[n] 10mm ammo (x100)
[p] phase device
[q] phase device
-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------
14 former humans
22 former human sergeants
17 former human captains
25 imps
9 demons
27 lost souls
2 cacodemons
2 hell knights
-- History ---------------------------------------------------
He started his journey on the suface of Phobos.
On level 2 he battled through a maze of rooms.
On level 3 he battled through a maze of rooms.
On level 4 he found hellish caves.
On level 5 he battled through a maze of rooms.
On level 6 he battled through a maze of rooms.
On level 7 he battled through a maze of rooms.
On level 8 he battled through a maze of rooms.
On level 9 he found a hellish city.
On level 10 he battled through a maze of rooms.
There finally he was killed by a demon.
-- General ---------------------------------------------------
Before him 28 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
25 of those were killed.
1 of those was killed by something unknown.
And 2 couldn't handle the stress and commited a stupid suicide.
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Yes, I managed to kill hell knights with a pistol. They only take about a dozen shots each with maxed SoaG. It helped that I found a Blue Armor on level 3. I had also seen an advanced pistol on level 6, but a stupid shotgunner had to blow up a barrel adjacent to it. I'll give it another go in the near future and see if I can get any farther.