Ability

Version 0.17: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

For unique monster abilities, see Special ability

An ability is a power that a player character may have, and may choose to use at any time. Abilities can be unleashed by pressing the a key.

Abilities can be:

• Natural abilities, such as a naga's Spit Poison ability
• Powers given by mutations, such as blinking
• Powers given by an item, such as Evoke Invisibility from the ring of invisibility
• Powers given by a god, such as Elyvilon's Lesser Healing

Abilities have both a cost and a chance of success. They may also depend on the player's state; eg. vampires cannot transform into Bat Form while full of blood. Abilities not based on sound or speech are unaffected by silence.

Ability Costs

Unlike spells, which almost always only cost MP and spell hunger, abilities can have multiple costs. These include:

• MP
• Permanent MP
• HP
• Permanent HP
• Food (Makes non-mummy characters hungrier. This cannot be reduced by your skills or stats.)
• Piety
• Breath
• Delay
• Pain
• Exhaustion

History

Prior to 0.17, ability scores were capped at 72, now at 125.