Rimeblight

Version 0.33: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

Rimeblight
Level	7
School1	Ice
School2	Necromancy
Source(s)	Book of Maladies Book of Wicked Creation
Casting noise	7
Spell noise	0
Power Cap	200
Range	5
Hated By	Elyvilon The Shining One Zin
Flags	Destructive, Dir or target, Not self, Unclean

Afflicts a creature (and up to two others near it) with a magical plague that slowly freezes them from the inside out. Victims take AC-ignoring cold damage each turn, and as the disease progresses, shards of crystalline ice will start erupting violently from their body, damaging nearby enemies. When they finally succumb, the plague may spread to those around them. In living, holy, or demonic creatures, the disease is especially virulent, feeding off the necromantic energies released by its host's suffering. As they approach the point of death, it will accelerate rapidly, devouring the last vestiges of their body and leaving nothing behind but a twisted pillar of stygian ice.

Spell Details
Damage Formula	2d(4+power/17) cold per turn 3d(6+power/11) explosion
Max Damage	2d16 per turn 3d25 explosion
Max Power	200
Range	5
Targeting	Beam
To-hit	Never miss
Special	Damage/turn ignores AC

Rimeblight is a level 7 Ice Magic/Necromancy that irresistibly inflicts the Rimeblight status on a nearby target (and up to 2 adjacent targets), which deals AC-ignoring damage every turn and causes periodic explosions. On death, it spreads to other adjacent creatures.

Useful Info

Inflicts the Rimeblight status on the target with 100% success, then up to 2 creatures connected by adjacency to the target (100% if adjacent to the target, 50% to creatures 2 tiles away). No creature is immune to Rimeblight.

Any creature affected by this spell will take AC-ignoring cold damage each turn, and periodically explode in a flurry of ice shards that damages other enemies adjacent to the target (not the target itself, or the player/allies).

If the creature is living / holy / demonic and drops below 20% HP, Rimeblight instantly kills it, replacing it with a short-lived pillar of rime.

When a creature with Rimeblight dies, the status spreads to adjacent enemies.

Duration of the status is 7 + 1d5 + power/30. The duration is not increased or reset if recast on a target already inflicted by Rimeblight.

Strategy

This spell is most useful against large packs of clumped enemies due to the spread mechanics, although the damage over time can be useful on isolated targets.

History

• Prior to 0.33, Rimeblight could spread from explosions, but could not target adjacent creatures on initial cast, did not always spread on death, and didn't spread if the creature was instantly killed due to being under 20% HP.
• Added in 0.32.