Deck of battle

Version 0.12: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

The deck of battle is a "virtual" deck consisting of six distinct cards which do various things pertaining to combat. The cards of the deck of battle appear in the decks of changes, defence, and war.

• Nemelex Xobeh does not gift any of those three decks. Therefore, Nemelex worshipers will only see the cards below (most notably Elixir) in decks found on the floor of the dungeon.

Elixir card

• Power level 0: 50/50 split between acting as a potion of heal wounds or casting the Regeneration spell at a random power up to (power / 4) - 1.
• Power level 1: If you're above 50% of your maximum HP, falls back to power level 0. Otherwise, restores you to full hit points and drains your magic points to zero.
• Power level 2: Restores you to full hit points and full magic points.

Battlelust card

• Power level 0: Acts as a potion of might with a random power up to (power / 4) - 1.
• Power level 1: Sets your "building rage" timer to 1.
• Power level 2: Sets your temporary "slaying" buff to a random duration of up to (power / 6) turns.

Metamorphosis card

Applies a random bodily transformation, selected as follows.

• Power level 0: Spider Form, Ice Form, or Bat Form.
• Power level 1: Statue Form or Blade Hands.
• Power level 2: Dragon Form or Lich Form.

Transformation happens at a random power up to (power / 4) - 1.

Helm card

Casts protective enchantments on you.

• Power level 0: Either Phase Shift or Stoneskin with 50/50 chance.
• Power level 1: 50% chance each of Phase Shift, Stoneskin and Magical Shield.
• Power level 2: Same as power level 1 and additionally, the effect of a potion of resistance.

Blade card

Prompts you to wield a weapon, then:

• Power level 0: Applies a temporary brand selected from flaming, freezing, venom, draining, or vorpal. (Trying to apply this to an artifact or a permanently branded weapon will prove unsuccessful and causes your weapon to "vibrate crazily for a second.")
• Power level 1: Applies a temporary brand selected from anti-magic, chaos, electrocution, distortion, or pain.
• Power level 2: Casts Tukima's Dance.

Felids get a special message instead.

You feel like a smilodon for a moment.

Shadow card

At power level 0, it makes you Invisible with random power up to (power / 4) - 1 . At power level 1 or higher, additionally gives you 1d(power) turns of temporary bonus stealth.

Mercenary card

Offers a mercenary for a fee. The fee is roughly the XP value of the mercenary offered, plus or minus 15 percent. If you cannot or choose not to purchase the ally, it will be created hostile. It is a durable summon, which means that it is worth no experience, can't be abjured, can't time out, and doesn't leave any equipment behind. However, it can pick up new equipment to better arm itself. This is the list of possible mercenaries:

• KBig kobold
• HTengu
• qDeep dwarf scion
• oOrc knight
• cCentaur warrior
• iSpriggan rider
• OOgre mage
• HMinotaur
• A random (non-professional) draconian
• eDeep elf blademaster

High card power increases the chances of getting a stronger mercenary.

History

The mercenary card was added in 0.11. Prior to 0.12, mercenaries would not change their equipment.