User:Hordes/Talisman

Talismans are items used to change your form.

Useful Info

A talisman, when eVoked, turns you into its respective transformation (e.g. a beast talisman turns you into Beast Form). This transformation lasts indefinitely. It can't be cancelled or dispelled, though you can voluntarily exit (also with V) at any time. Entering or exiting a form takes 5 turns. If you are turned into a bad form, when you revert, you'll go back to your talisman form.

Once you have turned into a desired form, the talisman can safely be dropped. You do not need to hold the talisman to stay in a form or exit one. Talismans are found around the dungeon and in jewellery shops.

The undead (ghouls, mummies, bloodless vampires) are unable to transform. Zin despises form-shifting, and will instantly excommunicate any follower who uses one.

Transformations

Each form has its own benefits and downsides. However, talisman forms share a few things in common:

• All talisman forms will boost Unarmed Combat in some way.
• Most forms will meld certain types of equipment, which cannot be used. For example, a blade talisman turns your hands into blades, melding your weapon, shield, and gloves.
• Forms often negate certain mutations, or add new ones. They can also change your size.

Being in any form will make you take +75% damage from silver weaponry.

Skill

Each form has a minimum Shapeshifting skill. Below this skill, you will receive a penalty to max HP. Every level of skill below the minimum gives a penalty of -10% max HP (min. 30%), which is then multiplied by the form bonus.

Raising Shapeshifting past this point will give you form-specific benefits. Beast Form will increase your slaying (attack) bonus, Statue Form will increase your defenses, etc. Each form also has a maximum Shapeshifting skill, where further training has no benefit.

Talismans are not related to spells in any way, so intelligence, wizardry, etc. has no effect.

List of talismans

Talismans are sorted by "tiers". Each tier has the same minimum and maximum Shapeshifting skill.

Tier 1: (min. 0 skill, max. 13 skill)

• Beast talisman (Beast Form)

Tier 2: (min. 9 skill, max. 20)

• Blade talisman (Blade Hands)
• Maw talisman (Maw Form)
• Serpent talisman (Anaconda Form)

Tier 3: (min. 17 skill, max. 23)

• Dragon-blood talisman (Dragon Form)
• Granite talisman (Statue Form)

Tier 4: (min. 21 skill, max. 27)

• Talisman of death (Death Form)
• Storm talisman (Storm Form)

History

• In 0.31, talismans will be introduced, replacing Transmutation spells. Removed spells: Beastly Appendage, Spider Form, Ice Form, Blade Hands, Statue Form, Dragon Form, Storm Form, Necromutation (Lichform).

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The rest of this page will document the various forms

Beast talisman

A beast talisman is a talisman that changes you into Beast Form, a wild, hulking form that grants bonuses to melee.

Shapeshifters start with this item, and start the game in Beast Form.

Useful Info

When eVoked, a beast talisman turns you into Beast Form, which lasts until you end the form. Entering or exiting a form takes 5 turns.

Beast Form has the following effects:

Combat Bonuses

• Unarmed Combat: 4 base damage.
• Slaying Bonus: adds 1 + (5 * Shapeshifting / 13) slaying (1-6 slay) to melee combat, even when using a weapon. Slaying increases damage and accuracy.

Restrictions

• Melded Gear: All armour except for body armour. (This includes helmets/hats, cloaks, gloves, and boots/bardings. Does not include shields.)

Beast Form does not block any mutations, does not change your size, and gives no innate bonus to HP / AC.

Beast Form has no minimum Shapeshifting skill. It has a maximum skill of 13; further skill has no further impact.

Strategy

If you haven't found any auxiliary armor pieces yet, then beast form is a free +1 slaying (and +1 Unarmed damage); a net positive for every character. You don't need to train any Shapeshifting to benefit.

It is an essential form for Shapeshifter starts. Your base fists are stronger than the plain short swords, whips, and maces you'll find on the dungeon. Branded weapons can perform better, though. For example, if you find a dagger of venom on D:2, then don't hesitate to switch. Weapon or not, Beast Form is still a buff.

Note that even Shapeshifters won't want to train the Shapeshifting skill right away.

• Shapeshifting skill gives you < 0.5 slay per level.
• Unarmed Combat skill gives +1 base damage per level (which is more damage), better accuracy, and speeds up your attacks.

I haven't thoroughly checked the code, but looks like the slaying bonus isn't randomly rounded yet. There are breakpoints every (13/6 round up) skill levels; you get an extra +1 slay at the following skill intervals: 2.6, 5.2, 7.8, 10.4, 13.

History

• Beastly Appendage.

Serpent talisman

A serpent talisman is a talisman that changes you into Anaconda Form, a giant, constricting snake.

Useful Info

When eVoked, a serpent talisman turns you into Serpent Form, which lasts until you end the form. Entering or exiting a form takes 5 turns.

Anaconda Form has the following effects:

Combat Bonuses

• HP Bonus: 120% HP
• Innate AC: 8 - 12 AC, scaling linearly with Shapeshifting skill.
• Unarmed Combat: 12 base damage.
• Constriction: When making a melee attack, you initiate constriction. You can constrict 1 large (or smaller) foe at a time.

Restrictions

• Melded Gear: All armour, weapon and shield. (Can only wear jewellery)
• You cannot throw items.
• Spells are much harder to cast (increases raw spell failure rate by +30%).

Other

• Cold-blooded: You will be slowed when hit by certain cold attacks. Negated by any amount of cold resistance.
• Amphibious: Can swim in water, resists Primal Wave. Note that, unless your species is already amphibious, you can't recover items in deep water.
• Anaconda Form is large-sized. Species smaller than large will have reduced EV in this form. (Being large also lets you constrict large opponents)
• Suppresses many mutations. Species movement speed set to 10.

Anaconda Form has a minimum Shapeshifting skill of 9, below which you get an HP penalty. It has a maximum skill of 20, where skill has no further impact.

Strategy

Constriction is broken. Remember 0.10 Nagas? Now you are one, but with normal speed and even better stats.

History

• Introduced in 0.31 in the transformation overhaul. Anaconda Form had no previous counterpart.

Maw talisman

A maw talisman is a talisman that changes you into Maw Form, which adds a giant, gnashing mouth in place of the stomach.

Useful Info

When eVoked, a maw talisman turns you into Maw Form, which lasts until you end the form. Entering or exiting a form takes 5 turns.

Maw Form has the following effects:

Combat Bonuses

• Unarmed Combat: 5 base damage.
• Maw aux attack: Adds a biting auxiliary attack. Whenever you make a melee attack (weapon or not), you have a chance to make a maw attack. Damage equals 7 + Shapeshifting (max. 27 dmg). The chance to activate any aux attack depends on XL; see auxiliary attack for details. If this XL-based check succeeds, then the maw will always attack.
• Devour on kill: Whenever you kill a enemy that can drop a corpse, you'll devour it, which heals you. You'll heal the lesser of HD + 1d(HD) or Shapeshifting + 1d20.
  • Beogh followers will not devour orcs. Gozag turns corpses into gold, stopping this effect. Death drops still generate, so you won't miss out on dragon scales and the like. (Necromancy??)

Restrictions

• Melded Gear: Body armour.

Maw Form does not block any mutations, does not change your size, and gives no innate bonus to HP / AC.

Maw Form has a minimum Shapeshifting skill of 9, below which you get an HP penalty. It has a maximum skill of 20, where skill has no further impact.

Strategy

The maw auxiliary attack doesn't care about how hard you hit, but the faster you swing, the more maw attacks you'll proc. Therefore, it works best on fast weapons. Unarmed Combat is obvious, but it also works well with Short Blades.

At XL 27 and skill 20, you'll get a 27 damage attack at a 96% chance to proc. A quick blade at mindelay swings every 0.25 decaAut, so you'll be getting maw attacks four times per turn. That's well above triple sword values. While an Unarmed specialist with Storm Form would be stronger, maw only melds the body armour slot, leaving the shield and 4 aux slots free.

Please train Dodging.

History

• Introduced in 0.31 in the transformation overhaul. Maw Form had no previous counterpart.

Blade talisman

A blade talisman is a talisman that gives you Blade Hands, increasing your damage in Unarmed Combat.

Useful Info

When eVoked, a blade talisman grants Blade Hands, which lasts until you end the form. Entering or exiting a form takes 5 turns.

Blade Hands has the following effects:

Combat Bonuses

• Unarmed Combat: 22 base damage.
• Your off-hand punch gains +6 damage.
• Reduces base AC of body armour by a factor of Shapeshifting / 20, where AC is rounded down.
  • Does not impact enchantment, and AC gained from Armour skill is still calculated with the armour's full base AC. Stacks multiplicatively with Deformed / Psuedopods.

Restrictions

• Melded Gear: Weapon, shield, and gloves. Claws are also melded.
• You cannot throw items.
• Makes spells harder to cast (increases raw spell failure rate by +20%).

Other

• Cuts hydra heads.

Blade Hands does not block mutations (other than claws), does not change your size, and gives no innate bonus to HP / AC.

It has a minimum Shapeshifting skill of 9, below which you get an HP penalty. It has a maximum skill of 20, where skill has no further impact.

Strategy

Strong, "two-handed" Unarmed Combat at the cost of armour.

Otherwise see Blade Hands#Strategy

History

• Introduced in 0.31 in the transformation overhaul. Previously implemented as a spell, Blade Hands.

The previous spell did not have an AC penalty. (However, since it was a spell,

Dragon-blood talisman

A dragon-blood talisman is a talisman that changes you into Dragon Form.

Useful Info

When eVoked, a dragon-blood talisman turns you into Dragon Form, which lasts until you end the form. Entering or exiting a form takes 5 turns.

Dragon Form has the following effects:

Combat Bonuses

• HP Bonus: 150% HP
• Innate AC: 16 - 22 AC, scales linearly with Shapeshifting. 18 AC at 15 skill.
• Unarmed Combat: 38 base damage (32 + 6 from Claws 3)
• Two auxiliary attacks: Bite 5 (11 dmg) & Tail slap 3 (6 dmg).
• Breathe Fire: Active ability. Launch a piercing, range-5 bolt of fire, creating a flame cloud where it lands. No cost, but has a cooldown of a few turns. Damage = 3d(4 + 2*XL/3). <ref>{{source ref|0.30.0|ability.cc|742}}</ref><ref>{{source ref|0.30.0| zap-data.h|999}}</ref>
• Stat Bonus: +10 strength.

Resistances

• rf++
• rC-
• rPois
• Innate flight.

Restrictions

• Melded Gear: All armour, weapon and shield. (Can only wear jewellery)
• You cannot throw items.

Other

• Dragon Form is Giant-sized. This gives a penalty to EV, but you are resistant to trampling, constriction, and nets.
• Suppresses many mutations. Species movement speed set to 10.

Dragon Form has a minimum Shapeshifting skill of 15, below which you get an HP penalty. It has a maximum skill of 23, where skill has no further impact.

Draconians

If you are a Draconian, Dragon Form has special bonuses:

• The AC bonus from draconian scales is added to Dragon Form.
• You retain your natural breath weapon, if any, instead of Breathe Fire.
• Instead of gaining rF++ and rC-, you retain your natural elemental resistances (or lack thereof). Red and white draconians gain rF++/rC- and rF-/rC++, respectively. You still get rPois, no matter the colour.

Strategy

See Dragon Form#Strategy.

History

• Introduced in 0.31 in the transformation overhaul. Previously implemented as a spell, Dragon Form.

Granite talisman

A granite talisman is a talisman that changes you into Statue Form, granting you the durability (and speed) of a statue.

Useful Info

When eVoked, a granite talisman turns you into Statue Form, which lasts until you end the form. Entering or exiting a form takes 5 turns.

Statue Form has the following effects:

Combat Bonuses

• HP Bonus: 130% HP
• Innate AC: 20 - 38 AC, scales linearly with Shapeshifting.
• Unarmed Combat: 12 base damage.
• All melee damage, including from weapons, is increased by 50% (after AC is applied).

Resistances

• Poison immunity
• rElec, rN+
• rTorment (50% damage from torment, stacks with rN)
• Non-living: Unbreathing, lacks blood, immune to sleep and petrification
• Vulnerable to Lee's Rapid Deconstruction and Shatter.

Restrictions

• Melded Gear: Body armour, gloves, boots.
• All actions slowed by 50%. Stacks with the slow status.
• If you are an amphibious species, you can stand in deep water, but you get all the normal penalties from both shallow and deep water (statues can't swim).

Statue Form has a minimum Shapeshifting skill of 15, below which you get an HP penalty. It has a maximum skill of 23, where skill has no further impact.

Gargoyles cannot use this item, as they are already made out of stone.

Strategy

See Statue Form#Strategy.

History

• Introduced in 0.31 in the transformation overhaul. Previously implemented as a spell, Statue Form.

Storm talisman

A storm talisman is a talisman that changes you into Storm Form.

Useful Info

When eVoked, a storm talisman turns you into Storm Form, which lasts until you end the form. Entering or exiting a form takes 5 turns.

Storm Form has the following effects:

Combat Bonuses

• Innate AC: 10-20, scales linearly with Shapeshifting. (17 AC at 21 skill).
• Bonus EV: 16/27 * Shapeshifting bonus EV, added on top of your base EV.
• Unarmed Combat: 8 + 3/2 * Shapeshifting (39 at 21 skill) base damage, with added electrocution brand and cleaving.
• Blinkbolt: Bolt-targeted ability that deals electric damage to everything in its path, then blinks you to the end. Has a cooldown.

Resistances

• Poison immunity
• rElec
• Innate flight.
• Non-living: Unbreathing, lacks blood, immune to sleep.
• Insubstantial: Immune to constriction / ensnarement, Sticky Flame, and petrification.

Restrictions

• Melded Gear: All armour, weapon and shield. (Can only wear jewellery)
• Suppresses many mutations. Species movement speed set to 10.

Storm Form has a minimum Shapeshifting skill of 21, below which you get an HP penalty. Maximum skill is 27, which is the cap on Shapeshifting itself.

Strategy

See Storm Form#Strategy.

History

• Introduced in 0.31 in the transformation overhaul. Previously implemented as a spell, Storm Form.

Talisman of death

A talisman of death is a talisman that changes you into Death Form.

Useful Info

When eVoked, a talisman of death turns you into Death Form, which lasts until you end the form. Entering or exiting a form takes 5 turns.

Death Form has the following effects:

Combat Bonuses

• Unarmed Combat: 9 base damage.
• All melee attacks (including weapons) inflict drain, slow, and weakness for 3-6 turns.

• Siphon Essence: Active ability (20 MP). Halves HP to all enemies (except nonliving) within 2 tiles. Then, heals you for 100% of damage dealt, with a cap of 46 + 2 * Shapeshifting. Does work against demonic, holy, and undead enemies. (ability.cc)

Resistances

• Standard undead resistances:
  • rC+
  • Immunity to poison and miasma.
  • rN+++ and immune to torment
  • Cannot be mutated. Receive stat drain if you would be mutated.
  • Cannot be polymorphed.
  • Vulnerable to holy, holy wrath, and Dispel Undead.

Restrictions

• Melded Gear: None.
• Cannot drink potions.
• Cannot use certain forms of Necromancy (Borgnjor's Revivification, Death's Door) or wield holy wrath weapons.

Death Form has a minimum Shapeshifting skill of 21, below which you get an HP penalty. Maximum skill is 27, which is the cap on Shapeshifting itself.

Strategy

Most useful in the extended game. No potions is a hefty penalty, but it gives immunity to two important things: torment and mutation. Pre-extended, if you have this much Shapeshifting, you should probably use Storm Form instead.

Necromutation#Strategy probably has something relevant?

History

• Introduced in 0.31 in the transformation overhaul. It replaces Necromutation (lichform).