Mystic

Trunk-only: This article pertains to a feature of Crawl which is being tested. It will likely change before the next release, and may even be removed entirely.

Mystics transform their bodies with talismans to be more attuned with magic. Their spells require mobility in combat, but can tap into all four elements.

Mystics are magic-using shapeshifters, with the spells focused on each of Earth, Air, Fire, and Ice magic schools.

Preferred Species

Human, Gnoll, Draconian, Deep Elf, Djinni, Oni, and Tengu are the recommended species if you pick a Mystic Background.

Starting Equipment

Some species may receive different items based on their unique restrictions.

• Robe
• Vision talisman
• Jade talisman
• Potion of magic

Available spells:

• Ice Thorns
• Sirocco
• Dragon Veins

Mystics start with Ice Thorns already memorised.

Starting Skills and Stats

These are adjusted by your species' aptitudes.

• Spellcasting: 3
• Fire Magic: 1
• Earth Magic: 1
• Air Magic: 1
• Ice Magic: 1
• Dodging: 2

Choosing Mystic adds 7 to your starting Intelligence, and 5 to your starting Dexterity.

Strategy

The Mystic background has everything you need to make it through Lair quite comfortably. It has the flexibility of multi-school damage types that will never feel weak to resistant enemies, and great damage scaling on Dragon Veins which gives you longer to find your next big spell. Notably, this background can easily go into any and all elemental school(s) quite early on, and should be happy to find other low-level elemental spells to help trigger your talisman abilities and get the benifit of triggering all 4 Jade talisman crystals.

Early, this start struggles slightly with flying enemies, given that Ice Thorns doesn't hit them, but this weakness is shored up nicely by training early Shapeshifting to empower both the glimmer attack (i.e. a stronger variant of Magic Dart) and get Jade talisman online as soon as possible. Vision talisman provides you a strong form for early Orc wizards, whose invisibility won't phase you; but you'll be looking to switch out of this as soon as you find good rings.

Furthermore, Jademantle form comes with many powerful upsides: 4 permanent allies to block line of fire, AOE elemental damage from each upon spell cast, and the additional skill levels in elemental skills to help you get Dragon Veins online sooner. All of this raises the question of how early you can start using Jade talisman, and some players will find that taking a minor HP penalty is well worth the upside.

While in Jademantle form, watch out for enemies with Lee's Rapid Deconstruction, such as the early Kobold geomancer, as you and your crystals are each targetable.

Skill investment

In the early game, players have to decide whether to invest in shapeshifting to rush for Jade talisman, or Spellcasting and/or the elemental schools to rush for Dragon Veins. Relying on Ice Thorns and Sirocco alone will not get you far into the dungeon otherwise.

• Getting Shapeshifting to around 6 results in Jade talisman causing a -20% HP penalty, or -15% HP at 6.5. Your species with normal HP or better may be quite happy to begin using Jade around this point. Not only will this let your level 1 and 2 spell carry your much further into the dungeon, it makes Dragon Veins very close to castable after a bit of spell training...
• Spellcasting skill grants 1/4 a skill level per spell school in the spell, thus Spellcasting is an equal contributor compared to the elemental schools when it comes to Dragon Veins' castability and spell power. Keep this in mind and train the skill that costs the least.

History

• In 0.35, mystics will be added.