Hepliaklqana

Version 0.26: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

"Through your memory, the past survives and persists."

Hepliaklqana the Forgotten accepts the worship of those who would remember their forebears, and fight alongside the greatest of them all. Hepliaklqana demands only that followers explore and form new experiences; as they advance in this service, they will find themselves able to shape and control their ancestor's memory, eventually bringing them into the ranks of the mythical heroes. Hepliaklqana's worshippers are served by a guardian formed from their memories of their greatest ancestor. This ancestor is at first remembered as they were at the start of their fabled adventures, but will advance in skill as their descendant does. Hepliaklqana always allows followers to recall their ancestor to their side, and, even if the ancestor is destroyed, Hepliaklqana will call it forth again not long after. Further advancement in Hepliaklqana's service allows worshippers to restore and strengthen their ancestor, to swap them with other creatures, and to choose how to remember their life's talents.

Racial restrictions

Demigods cannot worship Hepliaklqana (or any other god).

Appreciates

Hepliaklqana likes it when you explore the world.

Deprecates

• Abandonment.
• Inactivity (on average, you lose 1 Piety about every 500 turns).

Given Abilities

While worshipping Hepliaklqana, your maximum HP is reduced by 10%. You also gain the presence of an ancestor, a permanent ally that fights alongside you.

Piety Level -: "Hazy"

• Recall - Recalls your ancestor from anywhere in the dungeon to your immediate surroundings. Costs 2 MP.
• Ancestor Identity - Allows you to choose your ancestor's name and gender. This does not take any time.

Piety Level *: "[Species] Child"

• No abilities given.

Piety Level **: "Storyteller"

• Ancestor Life - You may choose one of three backgrounds for your ancestor. This choice is permanent, and cannot be undone; even abandoning Hepliaklqana and rejoining won't alter your choice.
  • Knights gain increased AC, a shield, and eventually get the ability to cleave through foes.
  • Battlemages gain an increase to melee damage and an assortment of damaging Conjurations.
  • Hexers gain a branded short blade and an assortment of Hexes.

See the Ancestor section below for more details.

Piety Level ***: "Brooding"

• Transference - Swaps one creature with your ancestor (you may target yourself). Costs 2 MP and a small amount of piety.

Piety Level ****: "Anamnesiscian"

• Idealise - Heals your ancestor, gives them an extra 4+(HD/3) AC, and temporarily doubles their damage and spell power. The quality of the healing and duration of the idealisation granted are both improved by the Invocations skill. Costs 4 MP and a small amount of piety.

Piety Level *****: "Grand Scion"

• When using Transference, creatures next to your target (i.e. the monster you swap your ancestor with) will be drained for a duration depending on Invocations skill.

Piety Level ******: "Unforgettable"

• No abilities given.

Ancestor

The player can choose from 3 types: battlemage, knight, and hexer. The ancestor's abilities scale off your XL and affect their HP, AC/EV, attack damage, magic resistance and spell list. Concrete formulas are as follows:

• HD (XL - 1)*2/3 +1
• HP: HD * 5 + max(0, (HD - 12) * 5)
• MR: HD*HD/2
• Base damage: HD + 3, * 2 for the battlemage;
• Base AC: HD
  • Knight gets 5+HD/2 additional AC, described as chain mail to the player
• Resistances: rF+, rC+, Negative energy immunity, Poison immunity
• Flies, sees invisible, and regenerates quickly

Ancestors do not time out, can follow you up & down stairs, and cannot be dispelled. If destroyed, your ancestor will reform after a few dozen turns. The normal ally XP penalty does not apply to your ancestor.

Ancestor powers

XL	Knight	Battlemage	Hexer
1	Flail, kite shield, and chain mail (bonus AC above)	Quarterstaff, bonus base melee damage, Throw Frost, Stone Arrow	Dagger of draining, Slow, Confuse
15	Broad axe of flaming	Bolt of Magma	Paralyse
19	Tower shield of reflection, haste self	Lajatang of freezing, haste self	Mass Confusion, haste self
24	Broad axe of speed	Lehudib's Crystal Spear	Antimagic quick blade

Punishments

Hepliaklqana believes that the only reasonable punishment for turning one's back on the path of memory is to be denied its use. All new experience is denied to the unfortunate apostate, until Hepliaklqana decides they have been punished enough. This will not be quick: unlike some, Hepliaklqana has a long memory...

Your ancestor immediately leaves (though the decrease to your maximum HP remains until your punishment is over) and you are unable to earn any experience until Hepliaklqana decides it's taken enough; this takes approximately 2 experience levels worth of XP. The XP is permanently gone.

Strategy

The ancestor can be chosen to complement your background, e.g. wizards can choose knights to provide defense while they are casting spells from afar, but at the moment there is noticeable power difference that makes this way of choosing less appealing.

Hexer is generally considered to be stronger than the other two ancestor types since they can get Mass Confusion and an antimagic quick blade. Battlemage usually tapers off in power around Lair and has problems due to requiring a clear line of sight to the target.

Tips & Tricks

• Characters with ranged weapons or ranged Conjurations should be wary -- the moment you attack an enemy at range, your ancestor will happily charge towards your target and potentially get in the way of your attacks. Searing Ray in particular is tricky to use without your ancestor moving into the line of fire.
• Characters with fast movement speed (spriggans, felids, flying tengu, swimming merfolk, and any character with boots of running) should be aware that their ancestor will still move at normal speed, making it quite likely that you'll leave them behind unless you deliberately slow down (you may set your autoexplore speed to theirs by hitting Ctrl+e). The recall ability is available from the start and only takes 1 turn to bring your ancestor to you should you have need of them -- it is up to you whether that is worth either the extra hassle of slowing down or the risk of leaving your ancestor alone with possible threats.
• Inner Flame or scrolls of immolation work well for followers of Hepliaklqana; target your ancestor, send them at your enemies, and watch them explode! They'll even come back no worse for the wear after the battle! Of course, you might make enough noise to attract attention to you while your ancestor is out of commission...
• You can also use Transference to execute a swap maneuver between your ancestor and a monster -- either to pull it in close or to get away from it. As long as your ancestor is several tiles away from you, you can swap them with a monster right next to you to allow you to escape. This basically works like a "blink other away" spell if done right, but with no checks for willpower on the monster's side.
  • The same is possible for yourself. A properly set up Transference (telling your ancestor to retreat helps) functions as a poor man's Controlled Blink -- it even works on formicids!

History

• In 0.27, your ancestor (and the -10% HP mutation) now come at 1* of piety. However, players and their ancestor can now fire missiles and spells through one another.

Hepliaklqana was added in 0.19.