Tree Form

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

You have been transformed into a tree and are rooted to the ground, unable to move or teleport. You have minimal evasion but increased health and natural armour, and are resistant to poison and immune to torment. Any equipped cloak, helmet, gloves, boots and body armour are melded.

Tree form is a bad form that can be inflicted on the player by a wand of polymorph or the Polymorph spell. Its most notable feature is that it entirely prevents the player from moving or teleporting, but not from otherwise acting. Unlike most bad forms, it can be entered easily and voluntarily by quaffing a potion of lignification. While transformed into a tree, the player gains the following attributes:

Pros

• +50% HP
• +20+0.5×XL AC (+33 AC at level 27)
• Unarmed Combat base damage is set to 12
• Bonus to to-hit
• rPois
• Torment immunity
• Asphyxiation resistance

Cons

• Cannot move, but can cast spells, use abilities, and attack
• EV is reduced to basically nil: (2 + size_modifier/2 + EV from Repulsion Field mutation, the same as when you are paralyzed)
• Cannot teleport
• Cannot fly
• All equipment other than shields, weapons, and jewellery are melded.

Strategy

Tree Form is easily the most combat-capable bad form, with high HP, AC, and unarmed branches that are stronger than many earlygame weapons (even at 0 skill!). However, it is also one of the most risky, as you are unable to move or even teleport away.

Tree Form is useful throughout many different parts of the game:

• Early on, Tree Form is great for fighting fast, poisonous enemies like killer bees and black mambas.
• Later in the game, it is useful for the immunity to torment. It is especially useful in the Tomb, as Tree Form prevents death curses and dispersal traps from affecting you. Just watch out for miasma.
• Species with armour restrictions (Felids, Octopodes, oddly-sized species) will enjoy the increased AC throughout the entire game. Trolls in particular have a special use for Tree Form, as its high AC and boosted, non-chopping unarmed attacks are perfect for taking out hydras.

If you don't have a reliable means of ranged combat, be wary of ranged or even reaching attacks, which will strike you with impunity. Use terrain such as a kill hole to your advantage. A potion of attraction will force monsters closer, if need be. Meanwhile, a potion of cancellation will let you end Tree Form early, but such potions are rare and valuable; choose when to enter Tree Form carefully.

Tips & Tricks

• The inability to move also gives immunity to enemies that shove you around (wind drakes, swamp worms, monsters with Force Lance, Roxanne).
• Tree Form will negate the attack penalties of standing in shallow water.
• Keep in mind that transforming into Tree Form will suppress the innate abilities associated with your original species, leading to possibly unexpected results. For example, if you were a formicid, quaffing the potion to fight an invisible enemy might be counter-productive, since you will lose your Antennae which allowed you to see invisible.
• Against enemies that attack with clouds, such as ushabti, you can use a scroll of fog to counter them. Only one cloud can exist at a time, so placing fog clouds will prevent more deadly clouds from being placed on your tile.

Tree Form

History

• Prior to 0.28, players in Tree Form were immune to negative energy (rN+++).
• Prior to 0.27, Tree Form gave fixed 48% GDR.
• Prior to 0.19, Tree Form greatly increased the player's Stealth modifier.
• Prior to 0.16, Tree Form also gave +10 strength.
• Prior to 0.15, players in Tree Form could not eat or drink, but did not hunger. Tree Form also greatly increased players' size.
• Prior to 0.14, the potion of lignification did not exist. Tree Form slowed the player by an amount based on your experience level ranging from 50% - 0%, prevented players from shouting, and followers of Fedhas Madash gained rF+ and rC+.
• Prior to 0.13, it made the player vulnerable to fire, and the AC bonus and the speed penalty didn't depend on XL.
• Like most bad forms, Tree Form was added in 0.12