Ensorcelled Hibernation

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Version 0.31: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.
Ensorcelled hibernation.png Ensorcelled Hibernation
Level 2
School1 Hexes
School2 Ice
Source(s) Book of Burglary
Book of Dreams
Casting noise 0
Spell noise 0
Power Cap 50
Range LOS
Flags Wl check, Dir or target, Needs tracer, Not self
Lowers its target's metabolic rate, inducing hibernation. After awakening, the target will be unable to be put to sleep again for some time.

“Sweet dreams are made of this; who am I to disagree?”
-Eurythmics, “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”. 1983.

Ensorcelled Hibernation is a level 2 Hexes/Ice spell which puts a monster to sleep, allowing you to flee or stab them more easily.

Useful Info

When Ensorcelled Hibernation is cast and passes a willpower check, the targeted monster goes to sleep. Like other sleeping monsters, they may awaken when: you spend time in their LOS (depending on stealth), they hear noise, or when injured by any attack. The sleep has no set duration, so a monster outside your LOS can sleep indefinitely so long as it isn't disturbed. However, they are guaranteed to sleep for at least one turn (i.e, you'll get a minimum of 1 action with the monster asleep).

Ensorcelled Hibernation can't affect cold-resistant creatures, and it also won't work on the undead, nonliving, plants, or berserk creatures. Monsters that awaken from this spell cannot be placed in hibernation again for up to 20 turns.[1]

Strategy

A decent spell for XL 2 or so Enchanters. Sleep allows for a single, powerful stab on an opponent. However, your opponent, if it survives, will be awake and immune to this spell for some time. And, due to its low power cap, Ensorcelled Hibernation has trouble hexing mid-game / late-game opponents.

It's often best to cast Ensorcelled Hibernation when you're in melee range of an opponent. This prevents the enemy from waking up before you get a chance to stab them. "

Compared to Confusing Touch

Confusing Touch tends to perform better as a general-use Hexes spell, since it lets you get multiple hex "attempts" to cast. For example, if you have a 20% success rate, Confusing Touch usually costs 3 MP, while Ensorcelled costs an average of 10 MP.

In turn, Ensorcelled Hibernation has an advantage against enemies with low/no willpower. It takes a turn to "ready" Confusing Touch before you start confusion attempts. Ensorcelled can work on the turn it is cast, which can save turns at high success rates. Also, confusing attacks can miss, wasting turns. Thus, Ensorcelled can see some use in the early game.

In any case, Enchanters should learn Confusing Touch, at least for situations where an enemy survives a sleep stab.

Monster Version

Monsters normally have access to the Sleep spell, which has the same effect but has no cooldown and works even with rC+. Player ghosts still have the proper version of this spell, though.

References