Hepliaklqana

Version 0.20: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

"Through your memory, the past survives and persists."

Hepliaklqana the Forgotten accepts the worship of those who would remember their forebears, and fight alongside the greatest of them all. Hepliaklqana demands only that followers explore and form new experiences; as they advance in this service, they will find themselves able to shape and control their ancestor's memory, eventually bringing them into the ranks of the mythical heroes. Hepliaklqana's worshippers are served by a guardian formed from their memories of their greatest ancestor. This ancestor is at first remembered as they were at the start of their fabled adventures, but will advance in skill as their descendant does. Hepliaklqana always allows followers to recall their ancestor to their side, and, even if the ancestor is destroyed, Hepliaklqana will call it forth again not long after. Further advancement in Hepliaklqana's service allows worshippers to restore and strengthen their ancestor, to swap them with other creatures, and to choose how to remember their life's talents.

Racial restrictions

Demigods cannot worship Hepliaklqana (or any other god).

Appreciates

Hepliaklqana likes it when you explore the world.

Deprecates

• Abandonment.

Given Abilities

While worshipping Hepliaklqana, you are given the rank 1 frail mutation for -10% hp.

Piety Level -: "Hazy"

• Recall - Recalls your ancestor from anywhere in the dungeon to your immediate surroundings. Takes 1 turn and costs 2 MP.
• Ancestor Identity - Recalls who your ancestor preferred to be known as, correcting their name and gender. This does not take any time.

Piety Level *: "Foo Child"

• No abilities given.

Piety Level **: "Storyteller"

• Ancestor Life: Knight - Choose to remember your ancestor as a knight, a strong melee combatant with superior defenses. This choice is permanent and cannot be undone.

• Ancestor Life: Battlemage - Choose to remember your ancestor as a battlemage, a warrior equipped with powerful conjurations. This choice is permanent and cannot be undone.

• Ancestor Life: Hexer - Choose to remember your ancestor as a hexer, a cunning rogue capable of skilled knifework and debilitating spellcasting. This choice is permanent and cannot be undone.

Piety Level ***: "Brooding"

• Transference - Forces a targeted creature to pass through the realms of memory and exchange places with your ancestor.

Piety Level ****: "Anamnesiscian"

• Idealise - Restores your ancestor to an idyllic vision of their best self. Their wounds are forgotten, harmful effects are wiped away, and a glow of perfection infuses them, giving them a short-lived but dramatic increase in strength, spellcasting, and armour. The quality of the healing and duration of the idealisation granted are both improved by the Invocations skill. Costs 5 MP.

Piety Level *****: "Grand Scion"

• Those near the target of your Transference will be drained for a duration depending on Invocations skill.

Piety Level ******: "Unforgettable"

• No abilities given.

Punishments

Hepliaklqana believes that the only reasonable punishment for turning one's back on the path of memory is to be denied its use. All new experience is denied to the unfortunate apostate, until Hepliaklqana decides they have been punished enough. This will not be quick: unlike some, Hepliaklqana has a long memory...

Your ancestor immediately leaves, and you are unable to earn any experience until Hepliaklqana decides it's taken enough; this takes about as much XP as ending Ashenzari wrath. The XP is permanently gone.

Ancestor

The player can choose from 3 types: battlemage, knight, and hexer. The ancestor's abilities scale off your XL and affect their HP, AC/EV, attack damage, magic resistance and spell list. Concrete formulas are as follows:

• HD = (XL - 1)*2/3 +1
• HP = HD * 5 + max(0, (HD - 12) * 5)
• MR = HD*HD/2
• Base damage = HD + 3, * 2 for the battlemage;
• Base AC = HD
  • Knight gets 5+HD/2 additional AC, described as chain mail to the player

Ancestors do not time out, can follow you up & down stairs and cannot be dispelled.

Hexer is generally considered to be stronger than the other two ancestor types since they can get Mass Confusion and antimagic quick blade. Battlemage usually tapers off in power around lair and has problems with having a clear line of sight to the target.

Ancestor powers

XL	Knight	Battlemage	Hexer
1	Flail, shield, and chain mail (bonus AC above)	Quarterstaff, bonus base melee damage, Throw Frost, Stone Arrow	Dagger of draining, Slow, Confuse
15	Broad axe of flaming	Bolt of Magma	Paralyse
19	Large shield of reflection, haste self	Lajatang of freezing, haste self	Mass Confusion, haste self
24	Broad axe of speed	Lehudib's Crystal Spear	Antimagic quick blade

Strategy

The ancestor can be chosen to complement your background, e.g. wizards can choose knights to provide defense while they are casting spells from afar, but at the moment there is noticeable power difference that makes this way of choosing less appealing.

Characters with fast movement speed (centaurs, spriggans, felids, and any character with boots of running) should be aware that their ancestor will still move at normal speed, making it quite likely that you'll leave them behind unless you deliberately slow down (you may set your autoexplore speed to theirs by hitting Ctrl+e). The recall ability is available from the start and only takes 1 turn to bring your ancestor to you should you have need of them -- it is up to you whether that is worth either the extra hassle of slowing down or the risk of leaving your ancestor alone with possible threats.

History

Hepliaklqana was added in 0.19.