Brom's Barrelling Boulder

Version 0.31: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Brom's Barrelling Boulder
Level	4
School1	Conjuration
School2	Earth
Source(s)	Compendium of Siegecraft Book of the Spheres
Casting noise	4
Spell noise	0
Power Cap	100
Range	1
Flags	Not self, Target

Unleashes a massive rolling boulder in a given compass direction. This boulder damages any creature it hits, rolling over those who perish beneath it and pushing any others helplessly backwards (along with anyone else unfortunate enough to be standing behind them). Its size and reckless locomotion make it difficult to use in confined areas; if launched down narrow passages, it will rapidly abrade against the walls and fall apart. It will also crumble if it leaves the caster's sight or strikes a wall or otherwise unmoveable creature.

Spell Details
Damage Formula	2d(3 + power/12)
Max Damage	2d11
Max Power	100
Range	LOS
Targeting	Special
To-hit	Never misses
Special	Creates boulder on adjacent square; Can hit multiple times

Brom's Barrelling Boulder is a level 4 Earth/Conjurations spell which creates a damaging boulder to hurl at your enemies.

Earth Elementalists start with this spell in their libraries.

Useful Info

Creates a boulder in a chosen adjacent tile. You cannot cast this spell on a monster. This boulder rolls in a straight line away from you, but for every tile moved, it has a 20% chance to wobble to either direction (10% to the left, 10% to the right).

Whenever the boulder collides with a monster, it takes damage and is knocked back. If there are other monsters behind the victim, all the monsters are pushed back in a chain. If a monster is pushed into a wall or impassible terrain (e.g. deep water, lava), it takes extra knockback damage (2d11 at max power). Then, the boulder itself takes 2d5 damage.

If the boulder hits a wall, it is destroyed and explodes in a 3x3 area. This deals the same damage as a boulder impact, but is reduced thrice by AC.

The boulder is treated as a monster: you cannot move into its tile, and it can be destroyed by attacks. It moves at speed 20 and has base HP of 27 (which is randomized like other monsters; does not depend on power). It can travel through deep water without being slowed down. It disappears after it leaves your line of sight.

Strategy

• While its damage is lower than Stone Arrow, the boulder can hit the same enemy multiple times. This spell can also be used to kite.

History

• In 0.32, boulders will move one tile immediately upon being cast. Their HP will increase with spellpower and will generally be higher. Boulders won't take damage when running into enemies. Also, there will be no fragmentation explosion when the boulder is destroyed, which will happen only upon hitting a wall or moving into an enemy that cannot be moved. Boulders will no longer apply a ministun to pushed enemies. They won't veer off course, but will take abrasive damage when moving next to walls or solid features. Finally, boulder damage will be increased.
• Brom's Barelling Boulder was introduced in 0.31.