Thanks for the breakdown!
I actually went ahead and started a new round and was able to ID a few more things along the way, such as what the "peril beam scroll" does, at least at level 1 (sword beam at 1HP or less). I suspected the skull ring though process of elimination as the bubble protection, so it's nice to have confirmation.
Ah ha! I just grabbed the "peril ring" this second round and had noticed something that normally does 1/2 heart did 1/4 and had a suspicion...
Same thing with the horizontal green scroll. I noted that I *think* it granted spin attack...
If the spikey ring (Ring slot #3 from left) is charge, Is the red version what reduces the charge up time?
Ah, crit damage... that would explain the random damage values... And it would explain why figuring power levels for item upgrades was so hard in the late game! Is the upgrade more crits or better damage?
Hmm, I *thought* that's what the upgraded stepladder was supposed to do, but it only seems to work occasionally... Then again, the stepladder is incredibly frustratingly buggy in every version of the game... I wish there was an option to disable it once you have flippers/feather. Among other things, it won't let me off into "swim" mode in anything but basic blue water (including dungeon spikes, which you can normally just walk over).
That really just leaves the other scrolls in "WTF land" - White (slot 13), Small blue (slot 20), large horizontal blue (slot 22), and large green (slot 23). I have a note that I think one of these protects you from having your shield eaten by like-likes. I'm fairly sure the Mirror shield also does that, but I noticed it when I had only magic at one point. I also think one might buff magic damage, but only on some spells? So hard to tell with that crit ring. I'm considering not picking it up this round so I can test all the damage values properly...
Awesome to know that many of my feelings were accurate in the end, even if I had little confidence in them!
Thanks again for the reply!