Stone of earth elementals

Obsolete: This article refers to an aspect of the game which has been removed. It is retained for historical reference only.

Type	Miscellaneous item
Name	stone of earth elementals
Icon

A magical device for summoning earth elementals. It is rather unreliable, and usually requires several attempts to function correctly. Using it carries an element of risk, which is reduced if one is skilled in the appropriate elemental magic.

A stone of earth elementals is an evocable item which summons an earth elemental from an adjacent rock wall tile as if you'd cast the Summon Elemental spell. The higher your Evocations skill, the more likely the device is to work, while having a high Earth Magic skill increases the likelihood of the earth elemental being allied to you instead of hostile:

Getting one friendly summon is guaranteed by Earth Magic skill 5, two are guaranteed by 10, etc. up to an effective max of five summons at Earth Magic skill 25.

Strategy

Earth elementals are the most cooperative of the elemental kinds, requiring an Earth Magic skill of only 5 to max out their friendliness rate. This makes them perfect for use by characters who want access to summoned allies but don't want to waste much XP training skills they won't use. While earth elementals are frustratingly slow, they hit hard and can take a punch or two from most opponents.

The slow nature of Earth elementals can be an asset. Because they're not ahead of you, they're not stealing part of your XP by taking your kills. If you're in a corridor and you need to escape a situation, they're always behind you; you double back through them and they save your virtual life.

Tips & Tricks

This can be used as a (very slow) form of Digging, since every time you successfully summon an elemental, you're consuming a rock wall tile.

History

These were replaced with stones of tremors in 0.13.