Enchant

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

For the class of effect described as "hostile enchantments", see Willpower#Resistible enchantments. For the defunct spell school with those effects, see Enchantments.

Weapons can be enchanted; when you first identify them, you reveal values which tell you how much more effective they are than an unenchanted version. Weapons which are not enchanted are simply '+0'. Most armours can be improved by reading the appropriate scroll. Body armour and bardings can be enchanted up to the base value of AC they provide. Shields can be enchanted up to +3, +5, or +8, depending on their size. Other gear is limited to +2.

Armour, weapons and shields may have enchantments. For example, a +7 broad axe has an enchantment of +7. Each enchant, or "plus", adds +1 to a specific stat:

• A scroll of enchant armour enchants armour and shields.
  • Armour gain 1 AC per enchantment, increasing the maximum AC roll by 1.
  • Shields gain 1 SH per enchantment, increasing the chance to block.
• A scroll of enchant weapon enchants weapons.
  • Weapons gain +1 slaying per enchantment, increasing both to-hit and maximum damage by 1.

Rings may also display an enchant value, but except for a unique shop vault, they will always be either +4, +5, or +6, depending on the stat of the ring. They can not be enchanted further. Artefacts come with a random enchantment value and can not be enchanted further.

This is not to be confused with brands or egos (e.g. broad axe of flaming).

Enchantment Limit

All enchantable items have a maximum that they can be naturally enchanted:

Maximum Enchantment Levels
Weapon	+9
Body armour	+(Armour's base AC) 0 for quicksilver dragon scales
Barding	+4
Shields	+3 for Bucklers, +5 for Kite shields +8 for Tower shields
All other armour	+2

Non-artefact weapons (namely the clubs of Killer Klowns) can rarely generate with an enchantment level that is higher than the normal limit.

Artefacts are not bound to these limits and may be "overenchanted". Enchantment level can be negative, though items do not normally generate with a negative enchantment. Artefacts can be negatively enchanted, as well as items from very specific sources (such as the Cinder Acolyte background).

History

• Prior to 0.27's removal of curses, negative enchantments used to be a lot more common (on cursed items).
• Prior to 0.25, stat boosting rings could naturally spawn with an enchantment from 2 to 6, positive or negative. An amulet of reflection varied in the same way, though was always positive.
• Prior to 0.15, weapons had a seperate to-hit enchant and damage enchant (e.g. +8,+6 broad axe). A scroll of enchant weapon I increased the former, a scroll of enchant wepaon II for the latter, and a scroll of enchant weapon III increased both twice.