Crystal ball of energy

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Obsolete: This article refers to an aspect of the game which has been removed. It is retained for historical reference only.

"Crystal ball" redirects here. For other obsolete crystal balls, see crystal ball of fixation or crystal ball of seeing. For the item and ego introduced in version 0.28, see orb of energy.

Type Miscellaneous item
Name crystal ball of energy
Icon Crystal ball of energy.png
A magical device which can be used to restore magical energy, with its effectiveness increasing with Evocations skill. However, it may fail and drain all of those energies completely, or cause other negative mental effects. When used with low reserves of magic it becomes increasingly likely to deplete those reserves.

A crystal ball of energy is an evocable item which, when used successfully, restores a large amount of your MP (5 + 1dEvocations). It has no cost to use, but does have a high failure rate. Failure may result in confusion, loss of MP, or 1-7 points of temporary intelligence damage.

The odds of success increase with both your Evocations skill and the percentage of your max MP you still have. Regardless of your Evocations, trying to use this item when nearly out of MP is almost guaranteed to fail, and attempting it while confused will always fail. However, the higher your Evocations, the greater the amount of MP you can spend before using this item becomes unlikely to pay off. See the table below for details:

Evocations Min. MP% for
max. success rate
Max. success rate MP restored (average)
2 72% 8% 6
5 66% 61% 7.5
10 56% 78% 10
15 46% 84% 12.5
20 36% 87% 15
25 26% 89% 17.5

Strategy

With Evocations training, the crystal ball of energy is the most powerful MP restoration item in the game, outperforming even a potion of magic. However, the results of failure are potentially catastrophic, and even at maximum Evocations there is always a significant failure rate. Pay close attention to your current MP if you're considering using this, and have escape methods lined up that don't rely on MP. Use clarity to negate the possible confusion effects. Zin's Vitalisation prevents both confusion and int loss, but does not prevent the mp drain. Consider having a staff of energy to regain mp for the next try if you were drained by this item.

History

  • Crystal balls of energy were removed in 0.25.