Difference between revisions of "Spriggan"

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(Innate abilities: more qualitative stuff for handed-ness)
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*[[Fast|Fast 3]]: Spriggans cover ground extremely quickly during [[movement]]. Each move takes 0.6 [[decaAut]], which equals to 16.67 monster "speed".
 
*[[Fast|Fast 3]]: Spriggans cover ground extremely quickly during [[movement]]. Each move takes 0.6 [[decaAut]], which equals to 16.67 monster "speed".
 
*Spriggans are [[Size#Player Sizes|little]], too small for many items.
 
*Spriggans are [[Size#Player Sizes|little]], too small for many items.
**They are completely unable to use most two-[[hand]]ed weapons: [[bardiche]]s, [[battleaxe]]s, [[dire flail]]s, [[executioner's axe]]s, [[glaive]]s, [[great mace]]s, [[great sword]]s, [[halberd]]s, [[longbow]]s, [[scythe]]s, [[triple sword]]s, [[javelin]]s, and anything medium-sized species can't wield.  
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**They are completely unable to use most two-[[hand]]ed weapons: [[great sword]]s, [[triple sword]]s, [[dire flail]]s, [[great mace]]s, [[battleaxe]]s, [[executioner's axe]]s, [[halberd]]s, [[scythe]]s, [[glaive]]s, [[bardiche]]s, [[longbow]]s, [[javelin]]s, and anything medium-sized species can't wield.  
**Large one-handed weapons: [[magical staves]], [[broad axe]]s, [[trident]]s, [[demon trident]]s, and [[double sword]]s are two-handed weapons to them.
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**Large one-handed weapons: [[magical staves]], [[double sword]]s, [[trident]]s, [[demon trident]]s, and [[broad axe]]s, are two-handed weapons to them.
 
**In addition, spriggans are unable to wear the following types of armour: [[kite shield]]s, [[tower shield]]s, [[gloves]], [[boots]], [[helmet]]s, and any type of body armour apart from [[robe]]s, [[troll leather armour]], and [[dragon scales]].
 
**In addition, spriggans are unable to wear the following types of armour: [[kite shield]]s, [[tower shield]]s, [[gloves]], [[boots]], [[helmet]]s, and any type of body armour apart from [[robe]]s, [[troll leather armour]], and [[dragon scales]].
  

Revision as of 10:17, 24 June 2022

Version 0.28: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.
This page is about the player species. For the monster, see Spriggan (monster).
Spriggans are small magical creatures distantly related to Elves. They love to frolic and cast mischievous spells.

They are poor fighters and have little physical resilience, though they are incredibly skilled at dodging attacks. They are terrible at destructive magic - conjurations, summonings, necromancy and elemental spells. On the other hand, they are excellent at other forms of magic, and are very good at moving silently and quickly. So great is their speed that a Spriggan can overtake a Centaur. Their size makes them unable to wear most armour. They cannot wield large weapons, and even most smaller weapons require both hands to be wielded by a Spriggan.

Innate abilities

Spriggans have a base Strength of 4, Intelligence of 9 and Dexterity of 10 (before Background modifiers). They have +1 to base magic points.

Preferred Backgrounds

Level Bonuses

Starting Skills and Equipment

Spriggans start with the skills and equipment listed for their background, with the following exceptions.

Difficulty of Play

SimpleIntermediateAdvanced

Spriggans are a fairly easy race to play, primarily due to their very fast movement speed. They are also the only species with a "tiny" body, giving them high evasion and stealth bonuses, complemented by their excellent aptitudes for those skills. Spriggans also have tremendous, albeit uneven, aptitudes in magic skills.

However, spriggans have very low HP. Keep this in mind even when you have huge EV and feel that nothing can touch you; a few bad rolls — or a few evasion-ignoring attacks — can be fatal. Fortunately, Spriggans' high speed makes it easy to remain in control and fight or flee from battles on your own terms.

Skill aptitudes

The higher the value, the better the aptitude.

Skill Aptitude Skill Aptitude Skill Aptitude
Attack Miscellaneous Magic
Fighting -2 Armour -3 Spellcasting 2
Dodging 3
Maces & Flails -3 Shields -3 Conjurations -3
Axes -2 Stealth 5 Hexes 2
Polearms -3 Summonings -2
Staves -3 Invocations 0 Necromancy -1
Unarmed Combat -2 Evocations 3 Translocations 4
Throwing 0 Shapeshifting 2 Alchemy 1
Fire Magic -2
Short Blades 1 Ice Magic -2
Long Blades -2 Air Magic -1
Ranged Weapons 0 Experience -1 Earth Magic -1

Strategy

Spriggans' innate abilities make them well-suited to a few particular classes:

  • Enchanters: Spriggans' aptitudes heavily favour stabbing, as they are quite talented in Stealth, Short Blades, and Hexes. Moreover, their high speed works very well for a stabber: unlike normal speed races, a few bad rolls of the dice will not leave a Spriggan with an angry ogre sticking to them like glue.
  • Venom Mages and Brigands: Both of these builds rely (early on, at least) upon inflicting high levels of poison on monsters from a distance. Spriggans' speed allows them to maintain that distance, allowing them deal with many threats without ever letting them into melee range.
  • Necromancers: Spriggans have passable aptitude with Necromancy, and the ability to raise several meat shields for yourself is always helpful.
  • Conjurer and Summoner types in general: Being able to maintain distance while blasting is a great thing. Unfortunately, Spriggans' aptitudes for such magic are rather terrible. The best combos for such characters are the aforementioned SpVM, and also SpAE: their aptitude for Air is not terrible, and there are several useful defensive Air spells.

As for god choice, Spriggans work reasonably well with most gods. A few stand out as somewhat more useful; in no particular order:

  • Kikubaaqudgha: Goes well with a necromancer build. The torment ability is a bit more useful for Spriggans than most races, since their speed provides a powerful escape option.
  • Trog: A somewhat paradoxical choice, but actually pretty strong. Spriggans' intrinsic speed makes post-berserk slowing somewhat less dangerous, Trog's Hand helps out with their low HP, and Brothers in Arms is a powerful panic button in general.
  • Ashenzari: Complements a stabbing build very nicely. The detection and scrying can be good for avoiding danger, particularly around corners.
  • Okawaru: Armour gifts can occasionally be useful for Spriggans, since they are guaranteed to be wearable for them.

Most other gods will work well, however. Cheibriados is considerably more difficult, since they remove one of Spriggans' primary advantages.

History

Species
Simple Mountain DwarfMinotaurMerfolkGargoyleDraconianTrollDeep ElfArmataurGnoll
Intermediate HumanKoboldDemonspawnDjinniSprigganGhoulTenguOniBarachi
Advanced CoglinVine StalkerVampireDemigodFormicidNagaOctopodeFelidMummy