Inner Flame

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

Inner Flame
Level	3
School1	Fire
School2	Hexes
Source(s)	Book of Flames Book of Spontaneous Combustion
Casting noise	3
Spell noise	0
Power Cap	100
Range	LOS
Flags	Wl check, Not self, Target

Fills an enemy with an intense fire. This fire is released any time the target is hit, and explosively released upon death. The size of the explosion caused is dependent on the size of the target.

Inner Flame is a level 3 Hexes/Fire Magic spell which gives a monster the Inner Flame status effect for 25 to 35 turns. The target may negate the spell if you cannot overcome its willpower. Since the spell doesn't deal direct damage, allies are not turned hostile if you affect them.

Fire Elementalists and Arcane Marksmen start with this spell. A scroll of immolation can also inflict Inner Flame.

Effect

Whenever the afflicted target is injured, a flaming cloud is generated at their position for three turns. On death, the victim will explode like a Fireball, dealing heavy fire damage to all adjacent squares and leaving clouds of fire. The amount of damage and radius of the explosion is dependent on the monster's size:

• Tiny monsters have a radius 1 explosion and deal 3d15 damage.
• Little through large monsters (i.e. most creatures in the game) have a radius 1 explosion and deal 3d20 damage.
• Giant monsters have a radius 2 explosion and deal 3d25 damage.

If a corpse would be created by the exploding monster, it is destroyed and leaves a spray of blood instead, as with a wand of mindburst.

Strategy

Used correctly, Inner Flame can deal tremendous damage to multiple enemies early in the game. Used incorrectly, you'll probably blow yourself to bits. Regardless, Fire resistance is heavily recommended in order to reduce the damage you take from a badly-timed kill, allowing you to survive things blowing up in your face.

• Obviously, the best way to avoid blowing yourself up is to kill the afflicted monster from a distance. Fire Elementalists can use their spells and Arcane Marksmen can use their ranged weapon. Other classes can make use of similar methods; even an attack wand will do in a pinch, if you use Inner Flame on a weakened foe.
  • Slowing or stopping your opponents, whether by use of spells like Slow, Leda's Liquefaction, and Petrify, or through methods like throwing curare darts or throwing nets, can give you enough time to run to a safe distance before setting your target off.
  • Unlike in most situations, placing a harmful cloud in an Inner Flamed monster's path will not prevent them from closing to melee. Monsters will freely move from one harmful cloud to another, and the clouds of fire they generate when hit will be enough to convince them to charge into your defensive cloud banks.
• The next best way is to Inner Flame your own minions; whenever they be enslaved, summoned, or even your own ancestor! You can sit back while you tell them to attack. Just don't have any other allies around, if your god would get angry.
• If the target is behind some other creatures, make use of smite-targeted attacks (such as Portal Projectile) or one of the various piercing attacks (javelins or bolt spells) to set it off in the midst of its fellows. Attack wands come in handy here.
• Inner Flame works best when used on a member of a group of monsters, such as a band of orcs, swarm of killer bees, or herd of yaks. Activating Inner Flame in an open space gives the explosion room to hit the most other creatures. Alternatively, set it off in a corridor to kill off the front line and create a wall of flames to block the rear guard from reaching you, similar to Conjure Flame.
  • The spell will create clouds of flame, dealing minor damage to strong solitary monsters. However, Poison damage will continuously trigger the flaming cloud effect, making very short work of enemies vulnerable to both.

History

• Prior to 0.28, Inner Flame was not smite-targeted.
• Prior to 0.26, corpse-leaving monsters would explode into chunks.
• Prior to 0.25, monsters afflicted with Inner Flame did not generate clouds of flame on themselves when injured. The spell was also ineffective on summoned creatures.