God

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

Gods are a central concept to Dungeon Crawl. The game's pantheon features 26 distinct deities; each provides increasingly powerful abilities to their worshipers, but punishes followers for any violation of their individual commandments. Your character may only worship a single god at a time, and most gods punish followers for abandoning them, so choose wisely.

The pantheon

• Ashenzari the Shackled, god of divinations and curses.
• Beogh the Brigand, evil god of the orcs.
• Cheibriados the Contemplative, the slow god.
• Dithmenos the Shadowed, evil god of darkness.
• Elyvilon the Healer, good god of healing.
• Fedhas Madash, god of plants.
• Gozag Ym Sagoz the Greedy, god of gold and mercantilism.
• Hepliaklqana the Forgotten, god of ancestry and memory.
• Ignis the Dying Flame, fading god of guttering flames.
• Jiyva the Shapeless, chaotic god of slimes.
• Kikubaaqudgha, evil demon-god of necromancy.
• Lugonu the Unformed, chaotic evil god of the Abyss.
• Makhleb the Destroyer, chaotic evil god of slaughter and bloodshed.
• Nemelex Xobeh, god of cards.
• Okawaru the Warmaster, god of battle and single combat.
• Qazlal Stormbringer, god of storms.
• Ru the Awakened, god of sacrifice and inner power.
• Sif Muna the Loreminder, god of magic and mystical secrets.
• Trog the Wrathful, god of violent rage.
• Uskayaw the Reveler, god of dancing and revelry.
• Vehumet, god of destructive magic.
• The Wu Jian Council, a council of formerly mortal martial artists.
• Xom the Unpredictable, chaotic god of chaos.
• Yredelemnul the Dark, evil god of death and undeath.
• Zin the Law-Giver, good god of law and purity.
• The Shining One, good god of honourable crusades against evil.

Joining a god

You may become a follower of a god in a number of ways. You can begin with one of the religious backgrounds:

• Berserker, worshipping Trog
• Chaos Knight, worshipping Xom
• Cinder Acolyte, worshipping Ignis

Otherwise, you may pray with '<' or '>' at a god's altar, where you will be shown a description of the god, their powers, and their commandments as well as given the option to convert to their religion. You can also bring up a description of every god in the game by using the key commands '?/G'. A faded altar will convert you to a random god (from a pool of 3), and gives you a piety bonus.

Conscious orc priests, orc high priests, and Saint Roka all offer Hill Orcs the opportunity to convert to Beogh so long as they are within line of sight. This conversion can be done by using the special 'a'bility Convert to Beogh. All orcs within sight of the player will become neutral the first time the player uses this ability in a game.

Monks do not start worshipping a god, but their pious lifestyle prior to entering the Dungeon will gain them additional favor; the first time they begin worshipping a god, they gain a significant amount of bonus piety.

Some species have religious restrictions on which gods they may worship:

• Demigods may not worship any god.
• Only Hill Orcs may worship Beogh.
• Demonic or undead species (Demonspawn, Ghouls, Mummies, and Vampires) may not worship good-aligned gods (Zin, Elyvilon, and the Shining One).
• Djinn may not worship the spell-granting Sif Muna, Vehumet, or Kikubaaqudgha.

Changing or renouncing gods

You can abandon your god for another by praying at your new god's altar, or by renouncing your faith with the "Renounce Religion" ability. The latter can be done at any time as a special ability (command aX). In addition, most gods will excommunicate you if your piety ever reaches 0, and the good gods will excommunicate you for casting the spell Necromutation.

Abandoning a god (or being excommunicated) will always incur penance and usually results in divine retribution, with a few exceptions.

• Ru never inflicts divine retribution for abandoment, but any sacrifices that the player makes to it are permanent.
• Leaving a good god (Elyvilon, Zin, or The Shining One) incurs penance, but they won't exhibit wrath upon you until you worship a disliked god. All 3 good gods dislike evil gods (Beogh, Yredelemnul, Lugonu, Kikubaaqudgha, Makhleb, or Dithmenos). Zin will also punish you for joining Jiyva or Xom, who are chaotic gods. This won't be forgotten over time; even if you join an evil god 100,000 turns later, wrath is still incurred.

Switching between good gods will even carry over half of your piety from one god to the other. Switching back to the first god will not restore piety; the number is simply halved again.

Altars

Altars for most gods (all gods except Lugonu, Jiyva, Beogh, and Ignis) are likely to appear in the Ecumenical Temple, which holds anywhere from 0 to 21 altars. Any altars of "temple gods" not found in the Temple are guaranteed to appear in the main Dungeon between level 2 and level 10. Additional altars may be found in various other locations deeper into the Dungeon and its sub-branches.

Lugonu's altars may be found in the Abyss or in rare corrupted versions of the Ecumenical Temple. Jiyva's altars may found at the entrance to or inside the Slime Pits, in rare corrupted versions of the Temple, and occasionally in the Sewer. Altars to Beogh can appear in the Orcish Mines, or more rarely in the main dungeon, most commonly near the entrance to the Orcish Mines. Ignis altars are only found in rare versions of the temple; most characters won't ever find an altar.

Some transporter vaults are themed around various gods; in particular altars to Lugonu and Jiyva may both be found in this way.

Players may also find one or more faded altars in the early Dungeon. Praying at a faded altar allows the player to convert to a randomly selected god with additional piety.

See also

• Choosing a god
• Piety
• Divine retribution
• God comparison
• Prayer

History

• Ignis, the Dying Flame, joined the pantheon in 0.28.
• Prior to 0.27, Gargoyles were unable to worship Yredelemnul.
• Prior to 0.24, the undead could not worship Fedhas.
• Prior to 0.23, Dithmenos was not evil.
• The Wu Jian Council was added in 0.21.
• In 0.19, Uskayaw the Reveler and Hepliaklqana the Forgotten joined the pantheon, and Pakellas was removed.
• Pakellas the Inventive, the engineer god of magical devices, joined the pantheon in 0.18.
• Faded altars were introduced in 0.17.
• Gozag Ym Sagoz the Greedy and Ru the Awakened were added in 0.16.
• Qazlal Stormbringer was added in 0.15.
• Dithmenos was introduced in 0.14.
• Prior to version 0.9, one did not incur penance by switching from one good god to another. This was removed, since it allowed for Zin worshipers to safely switch to Jiyva by momentarily switching to TSO or Elyvilon. Switching between good gods is still safe, since no wrath will be exhibited, but if you leave for an evil god you will be facing the wrath of both (or all) of your former gods.
• In 0.8 instant divine retribution was removed. You could also find altars in the main Dungeon at level 1.
• Prior to 0.6, altars were not always guaranteed to appear in the Ecumenical Temple or between Dungeon levels 2-9.