Venom Mage

Version 0.28: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Venom Mages specialise in poison magic, which is extremely useful in the shallower levels of the Dungeon where few creatures are immune to it.

Venom Mage are spellcasters who specialize in Poison Magic. Their toxic spells are effective against insects and spiders, but they are more than capable of exterminating warm-blooded creatures, too. However, they will probably have to branch out into other schools once they start facing more demonic creatures and undead.

Preferred Races

Merfolk, Demonspawn, Djinni, Spriggan, Tengu, Deep Elf, and Naga are the recommended races if you pick a Venom Mage Background.

Starting Equipment

Some species may receive different items based on their unique restrictions.

• +0 robe

Available Spells:

• Sting
• Poisonous Vapours
• Mephitic Cloud
• Olgreb's Toxic Radiance

Venom Mages start with the Sting spell already memorised.

Starting Skills and Stats

These are adjusted by your species' aptitudes.

• Dodging: 2
• Stealth: 2
• Spellcasting: 2
• Transmutations: 1
• Poison Magic: 3

Choosing Venom Mage adds 7 to your starting Intelligence and 5 to your starting Dexterity.

Strategy

• Sting is a decent spell; along with decent damage, it also has a chance to inflict poisoning, which few monsters on the earliest dungeon levels can resist. Once you reach XL 2 you get a massive burst of power in Poisonous Vapours, as not only does this spell do significant damage, it is smite-targeted as well. Learn Mephitic Cloud the instant you hit level 3, too.
• Fast species like Spriggans are good with keep-away tactics that make poison effective.
• Physically gifted species also benefit from this background. Even the dopiest character can manage to scrape enough experience together to get Poisonous Vapours and Mephitic Cloud functioning well, and those two spells can make a huge difference for an otherwise melee-based thug.
• Once reliably castable, Olgreb's Toxic Radiance is a powerful screen nuke for early branches that are not particularly resistant to poison (notably the Orcish Mines and Spider's Nest). Venom Mages might consider going into Orc before Lair.
• Venom Mages suffer massively from limited ability to deal with enemies which are resistant or immune to poison. Early threats include undead such as wights and necrophages, demons such as imps, and several enemies in Lair, like hydras, black mambas and cane toads.
  • Combining Mephitic Cloud and Ignite Poison (if you find it early enough) will create flaming clouds, giving Venom Mages a powerful tool against poison-resistant threats. However, they should still look to branch out into melee or other forms of magic, as poison becomes less and less effective in the later parts of the game.
• Later on, poison resistance becomes more and more common. Either Sif Muna or Vehumet will help with your magic -- both your current spells and your future endeavors.

History

• Prior to 0.27, Venom Mages started with the Young Poisoner's Handbook, and had Ignite Poison.
• Prior to 0.25, Ignite Poison was not in the Young Poisoner's Handbook.
• Prior to 0.20, the Young Poisoner's Handbook had Alistair's Intoxication instead of Poisonous Vapours.
• Prior to 0.19, the Young Poisoner's Handbook had Cure Poison instead of Alistair's Intoxication.
• Prior to 0.14, Venom Mages started with only 1 level in Spellcasting.