Merfolk avatar

Version 0.14: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

For a list of merfolk monsters, see List of merfolk

siren m
HP	71-96
HD	13
XP	933
Speed	10 (swim: 60%)
AC	4
EV	12
Will	121
Resistances	rDrown, rWater
Vulnerabilities	None
Habitat	Amphibious
Intelligence	Normal
Uses	Uses nothing
Holiness	Natural
Size	Medium
Type	mermaid, siren
Flags	Fake spells No gen derived Speaks Warm-blooded

Once a merfolk woman, she has become an avatar of the sunken god. Her voice can instill the same single-minded fascination that grabs hold of sailors on a long voyage. Her song also can call up the souls of others who have drowned in her waters in order to bring you the same watery bliss. Why only female merfolk are called to become avatars of the sunken god is a mystery understood only by the avatars themselves. “Row'd on, in reach of an erected voice, The Sirens soon took note, without our noise, Tuned those sweet accents that made charms so strong, And these learn'd numbers made the Sirens' song: ‘Come here, thou worthy of a world of praise, That dost so high the Grecian glory raise, Ulysses! stay thy ship, and that song hear That none past ever but it bent his ear, But left him ravish'd, and instructed more By us, than any ever heard before. For we know all things whatsoever were In wide Troy labour'd; whatsoever there The Grecians and the Trojans both sustain'd By those high issues that the Gods ordain'd. And whatsoever all the earth can show T' inform a knowledge of desert, we know.’” -Homer, _The Odyssey_, XII, 268-82. trans. George Chapman, 1857.

Useful Info

A siren is similar to a mermaid, only more seductive. Her song not only mesmerises you, but also forces you to move one space toward her each turn. This movement effect is irresistible if you are already mesmerised when exposed to it. She can't drown you, as you will only enter deep water if playing a merfolk, octopode, or grey draconian, but she will retreat from you all the while, occasionally summoning drowned souls to kill you for her. They are commonly found throughout the Shoals.

Variant Siren

One variation of the Sewers has a sickly siren at the end of it. She has significantly lower HD than normal sirens, but she can still call up drowned souls or pull you into the shallow water bordering the ocean at the end of the map. This can be an extremely dangerous fight, and one should do everything in their power to end it quickly (or avoid it if you aren't up for a challenge).

A young woman with a fish tail in place of legs. She looks quite sick, but still capable of bespelling her audience.

Tips & Tricks

• High magic resistance will let you ignore the singing effect. The spell can also be broken early by killing or confusing the siren, as well as through a number of other methods. See the mesmerise page for a full list.
• Although random blinks and teleports can also break mesmerism if you manage to leave LOS, you cannot willingly make controlled blinks or teleports away. If you can't lose the intrinsic no matter what, try teleporting to a space occupied by a monster to force the game to send you on a random teleport instead.
• Her drowned souls aren't very durable, but there are a lot of them and they won't stop coming until the siren is defeated. Focus on killing her quickly, and all her souls will dissipate.
• For melee-focused characters, if you have a means of flying and hasting yourself, then you can just chase down the siren and take her out up close. This poses significant dangers, of course, as you'll be taking significant amounts of asphyxiation damage from her drowned souls as you rush in. If possible, use ranged attacks instead to take her out in relative safety.
• Unbreathing species (the undead, gargoyles, and grey draconians) have little to fear from sirens apart from being lured into an unfavorable situation. Focus on other, more immediate threats first.

History

Prior to 0.14 sirens could not summon drowned souls.