Summon Horrible Things

Version 0.19: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Summon Horrible Things
Level	8
School1	Summoning
Source(s)	Grand Grimoire
Casting noise	6
Spell noise	0
Power Cap	200
Flags	Chaotic, Mons abjure, Unholy

Opens a gate to the Abyss and calls through one or more hideous abominations from that dreadful place. The opening of the gate may drain a portion of the caster's intellect. The number of abominations summoned increases with spell power.

Summon Horrible Things is a level 8 Summoning spell that summons a horde of large abominations and tentacled monstrosities.

Players colloquially refer to this spell as XXX.

Effect

When cast 2 to 6 large abominations and 0 to 2 tentacled monstrosities are summoned. There is a chance for the caster to lose intelligence. Higher spell power may increase the number of the creatures.

Number of large abominations summoned is 1 + 1d3 plus spell power in 200 chance for an extra one.

There is 1 - 121 / <power> chance for two tentacled monstrosities, and if that fails an independent 1 - 51 / <power> chance for one monstrosity. If no monstrosities were created, one extra abomination is created instead.

Duration of the summons is around 27 turns, this does not depend on the spell power.

There is a 20% chance that the caster loses one point of intelligence.

Strategy

This is one of the most powerful Summonings spells in the game, since abominations hit quite hard - up to 40 damage per hit - and the spell summons several at a time. Tentacled monstrosities can also see invisible.

As all of the creatures it summons are immune to negative energy, the spell bundles well with wands of draining or Bolts of Draining. Also, anything being constricted by a tentacled monstrosity will have its evasion reduces drastically; if you have a rod of inaccuracy, feel free to let loose with it.

Monster Version

Monster version of Summon Horrible Things creates 3 to 5 monsters, each one has 75% chance of being a large abomination and 25% chance of being a tentacled monstrosity..

Duration class of the summons ranges from 2 (around 18 turns) to 6 (around 171 turns), based on the strength of the caster.

Monsters do not suffer any ill effects from casting the spell.

The following enemies cast Summon Horrible Things:

• & Mnoleg

The following enemies may be able to cast Summon Horrible Things, depending on their spell set:

• & Pandemonium lord (2.8% chance)

History

Prior to 0.19, casting this spell could inflict 1-2 points of intelligence damage.

Prior to 0.15, casting this spell could inflict 1-3 points of intelligence damage.

Prior to 0.2, the summons created were permanent.