Mermaid

Obsolete: This article refers to an aspect of the game which has been removed. It is retained for historical reference only.

For a list of merfolk monsters, see List of merfolk

mermaid m
HP	31-51
HD	9
XP	471
Speed	10 (swim: 60%)
AC	4
EV	12
Will	60
Attack1	19 (hit: plain)
Resistances	rDrown, rWater
Vulnerabilities	None
Habitat	Amphibious
Intelligence	Normal
Uses	Weapons & armour Starting equipment Open doors
Holiness	Natural
Size	Medium
Type	mermaid, mermaid
Flags	Fake spells Speaks Warm-blooded

A young merfolk woman who has become an acolyte of the sunken god. As a consequence of her worship, she has begun the transformation into an avatar of the mystery and danger of the sea's depths. Her voice can instill the same single-minded fascination that grabs the minds of sailors on a long voyage. Why only female merfolk are called to become avatars of the sunken god is a mystery understood only by the avatars themselves. "Then up it raise the mermaiden, Wi the comb and glass in hand: 'Here's a health to you, my merrie young men, For you never will see dry land.'" -"Sir Patrick Spens", Scottish folk song, version 58J in Francis James Child, _The English and Scottish Popular Ballads_. 1898.

Useful Info

Mermaids are aquatic creatures with the head and upper body of a female humanoid and the tail of a fish. Their singing will mesmerize you, preventing you from moving away. Mermaids are commonly found in the Shoals.

Variant Mermaid

One variation of the Sewers has a few malarious mermaids in it. They have significantly lower HD than normal mermaids, but can still mesmerize you and prevent you from moving away from them.

Like other mermaids, this young merfolk woman who has become an acolyte of the sunken god, and is undergoing a transformation into an avatar. She looks deeply ill, but her voice still has the power to instill a powerful fascination in her victims.

Tips & Tricks

• High magic resistance will let you ignore a mermaid's song. The spell can also be broken early by killing or confusing the mermaid, using a scroll of noise, or wielding a lantern of shadows to reduce your LOS so you can't see the mermaid anymore.
• Although random blinks and teleports can also break mesmerism if you manage to leave LOS, you cannot willingly make controlled blinks or teleports away. If you can't lose the intrinsic no matter what, try teleporting to a space occupied by a monster to force the game to send you on a random teleport instead.
• Fortunately, mermaids will still try to close into melee with you. Unless you're in extreme danger, all you really have to do is wait for them to get close enough for you to hit them (though they often have polearms, allowing them to poke at you from a distance).

History

Mermaids were renamed in 0.16 to sirens. The former sirens were changed to merfolk avatars.