Simulacrum (monster)

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

For the spell, see Simulacrum.

An ice replica of a monster that is animated by the powers of necromancy. "The simulacrum now hides, not the truth, but the fact that there is none, that is to say, the continuation of Nothingness." -Jean Baudrillard, _La Pensée Radicale_. 1994.

Simulacra are replicas of other monsters constructed out of ice. As a type of derived undead, their stats are based on what the monster had in life.

Useful Info

Simulacrum are the most fragile type of derived undead. They are slower, stupider, and with less HP than their living counterparts, but gain cold damage.

• HP: (HD)d4 + 1*HD
• AC: Original - 2
• EV: Original - 5
• Speed: Original - 2 (at least 3)
• Melee attacks: 80% of original
• Attack flavour: Cold - does an extra (HD to 3*HD - 1) cold damage per attack
• Special: Leaves behind a freezing cloud when destroyed, does not regenerate, cannot traverse stairs

Simulacra are immune to poison, negative energy, torment, and cold damage, but are vulnerable to fire and holy.

Simulacra are usually created by the player's Simulacrum spell or monsters' Bind Souls spell. You may also find them in Ice caves, around necromancers and Josephina, and in certain vaults.

Strategy

Simulacra can deal brutal amounts of cold damage, depending on the monster. Every one of a monster's attacks gets the cold attack flavour. For example, a regular hydra deals up to 18 damage per head. A hydra simulacrum deals up to {14 physical + 39 cold} = 52 damage per head (over twice as much!).

Needless to say, if you're facing down a simulacrum or two, protect yourself with cold resistance. Simulacra are frail, so most types of ranged attacks can destroy them. Also, as they have poor willpower, a wand of paralysis can be very effective.

As player allies, simulacrum are some of the most powerful minions available from Necromancy. While they fall apart quickly, the damage can be astounding. Try to target foes with high HD or multiple attacks. In addition to their fragility, an issue with simulacra is MP efficiency. The Simulacrum spell only affects one monster per cast, while Animate Dead and Death Channel work on every monster you kill.

Identifying Simulacra

Though simulacra of different monsters have different stats, Crawl tends to lump them together, making identification at a glance difficult. In console mode, simulacra will be separated into zs and Zs, representing large or small simulacra. Tiles mode is more specific, providing unique tiles for several categories of monster, but there is still considerable variation within those categories. In either mode, you can always press x and highlight the simulacrum in question to determine exactly what type of monster you are dealing with.

Below are all the categories of simulacra in tiles mode:

- Bat

- Bee

- Centaur

- Dragon

- Drake

- Fish

- Humanoid (small)

- Humanoid (large)

- Hydra

- Insect

- Jellies

- Kraken

- Lizards

- Naga

- Quadruped (small)

- Quadruped (large)

- Snake

- Spider