Psyche

Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Psyche @
HP	26-54
HD	5
XP	428
Speed	13
AC	2
EV	12
Will	60
Attack1	7 (hit: plain)
Resistances	None
Vulnerabilities	None
Habitat	Land
Intelligence	Human
Uses	Weapons & armour Starting equipment Open doors
Holiness	Natural
Size	Medium
Type	human, human
Flags	Speaks Warm-blooded Unique Female

A fair-haired mage, wandering and seemingly half-mad with grief and guilt. “Let Psyche’s corpse be clad in mourning weed And set on rock of yonder hill aloft; Her husband is no wight of human seed, But serpent dire and fierce, as may be thought, Who flies with wings above in starry skies, And doth subdue each thing with fiery flight. The Gods themselves and powers that seem so wise With mighty love be subject to his might. The rivers black and deadly floods of pain And darkness eke as thrall to him remain.” -Apuleius, _Asinus aureus_, “Cupid and Psyche”. circa. 160 AD. trans. William Adlington, 1566.

Useful Info

Psyche the Insane Magess is a fast-moving unique mage. Her Chain of Chaos spell can cause paralysis or banish you to the Abyss, making her deadly. She also spawns with either a chaos (75% odds) or distortion (25%) dagger, which can do the same things in melee.

Location

• The Dungeon:8-12

Spells

Spell set I
Slot1	Cantrip	Wizard flag
Slot2	Polymorph	Wizard flag
Slot3	Chain of Chaos	Wizard flag
Slot4	Invisibility	Wizard flag

Tips & Tricks

• Avoid her if at all possible. She's fast, so you can't just run away. Every time you are hit by Chain of Chaos, you'll have a 1% chance to be paralysed and 1% chance to be banished; both effects can lead to unavoidable death. Skipping a floor that has Psyche is often worth it.
  • Unfortunately, she can spawn on the floors that Lair or Orc are on. If you decide to skip the floor, a scroll of magic mapping can scout out any branch entrances you'd be missing.
  • Unless you have amazing willpower, chaos is less likely to banish you than Erolcha or wizards, and less likely to paralyse you than ogre mages. If you find these kinds of threats (and are forced to fight one of them), Psyche is probably the lesser of two evils.
• She has low willpower and HD. If you have don't have a better option, Hexes or hex wands are likely to disable her; even a wand of polymorph can do the trick. Mephitic Cloud will at least prevent her spellcasting.

Trivia

Psyche is a character from the Greek myth of Eros and Psyche. In this myth, Psyche was a girl who fell in love with the god of desire, Eros, but needed to complete several impossible tasks before his mother Aphrodite would allow them to be wed.

History

• Prior to 0.27, Psyche had the following spell set: Cantrip, Magic Dart, Throw Frost, Throw Flame, Haste, and Invisibility