Datura

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

It is tipped with a substance that sends those it hits into a mindless rage, attacking friend and foe alike.

Datura is a brand found only on darts. Targets struck by a datura dart are sent into a frenzy, turning neutral, hasted and mighted, while attacking nearby creatures regardless of whether they are allies. These darts have no effect on undead or nonliving monsters.

Unlike most brands, datura's effectiveness is determined by the player's skill in Throwing and Stealth, and resisted by the target's hit dice:

• For monsters with HD < 15, there is an initial fixed 3% chance of success;
• Otherwise, the chance is 100 - 100 * (HD - 2) / (4 + pow), where pow = (Throwing + Stealth) * 2 / 3.

Strategy

Frenzy is effective when applied to a monster in the middle of a pack, which will often result in some of the pack tearing each other apart for a time while leaving you an opening to thin their numbers, use other ranged attacks, or make an escape.

Datura is most universally effective in the beginning of the game where few monsters have the HD to resist it; you can easily turn something like an orc warrior against its compatriots and might be able to affect an ogre or ice beast. Unless you're investing in Throwing and/or Stealth, however, datura will likely stop working on monsters once you get to about the Lair.

When used against the player, only the normal berserk effect is applied. This may or may not be a good thing. You may even target yourself in an attempt to use the darts as a source of berserk, but note that you need to surpass your own defences in order to succeed.

Trivia

Datura refers to a genus of poisonous plants.

History

• Prior to 0.28, holy and demonic monsters wouldn't go haste/berserk.
• Datura was introduced in 0.24, replacing the old frenzy brand found on needles.