Curare

Version 0.25: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

It is tipped with a substance that causes asphyxiation, dealing direct damage as well as poisoning and slowing those it strikes. It is twice as likely to be destroyed on impact as other darts.

Curare is a brand found only on darts and the unrandart whip "Snakebite". Targets struck by curare take 2d6 asphyxiation damage and are both poisoned and slowed. Curare has no effect on creatures with poison resistance.

Darts tipped with curare are not only rare, but twice as likely to mulch as other darts (16.66% chance).

Strategy

Curare darts are among the most dangerous darts available, particularly because they can take full effect even with zero Throwing or Stealth skill. Many dangerous enemies throughout the game lack resistance to poison, from ogres or giants up to powerful uniques like Gastronok or even Antaeus. Any of these can therefore be reliably slowed by curare, meaning even unstealthy brutes with no interest in throwing weapons may wish to carry around any curare darts they find.

Be aware that curare will work equally well on you, should you lack poison resistance. Most of the time you won't have to worry about it, but the occasional kobold or spriggan rider may be carrying curare darts, and the unique kobold Sonja is guaranteed to spawn with several curare darts.

Trivia

Curare is a general term referring to resinous, organic substances derived from tropical south and central American plants, crude preparations of which have long been used as arrow poisons to aid in the capture of wild game. Curare produces profound skeletal muscle relaxation, which can lead to respiratory paralysis and death. As such, curare alkaloids were once used in western medicine to induce general anesthesia.

The world "curare" is itself a European interpretation of the South American Indian word for poison.

History

• Prior to 0.24, curare was found on needles instead of darts.