Lost soul

Version 0.25: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

lost soul *
HP	16-34
HD	10
XP	0
Speed	13
AC	0
EV	10
Will	Immune
Resistances	rF+ rC+ rElec rPois+++ rDrown rMiasma rN+++ rTorm rSticky
Vulnerabilities	Holy
Habitat	Land
Intelligence	Brainless
Uses	Uses nothing
Holiness	Undead
Size	Small
Type	lost soul, lost soul
Flags	Evil Flying Unbreathing Insubstantial No experience gain Maintain range

The echo of a unmourned soul, flickering in and out of the mortal world. Though the memories of its living self are long-faded, it is drawn to the moment of death by some lingering instinct. So powerful is its drive for self and purpose that it seizes upon the passage of other souls, losing the last vestiges of its being in the memories of another's life. “She walks in the twilight, her steps make no sound, Her feet leave no tracks on the dew-covered ground. Her hand gently beckons, she whispers your name— But those who go with her are never the same.” -Magic: the Gathering

Useful Info

Lost souls are wandering confluxes of necromantic power which have no offensive capabilities of their own, but which sacrifice themselves to revive allied living or undead monsters within their line of sight at the moment they are killed.

If an undead monster is killed while in sight of an allied lost soul, the soul may die instead and the undead will be restored to full HP with all status effects reset (this does not apply to any form of derived undead, however). If a zombifiable living creature dies while in LoS of an allied lost soul, the soul will instead assume its likeness, turning into a ghostly monster of the same type. This copy will have stats as though it were wearing the original's gear and will have full access to all of the original's spells, and becomes undead.

Lost souls do not always choose to sacrifice themselves to save a fallen ally; if monsters of varying strength are present, they will often ignore the deaths of weak monsters in order to save themselves for the strong. If several lost souls are clustered together, they will be more likely to sacrifice themselves for weaker things.

Lost souls move quickly and avoid getting close to you, but are generally fragile. If they find themselves in your line of sight with no other monsters around, they will flicker out of the living world and reappear near some other monster elsewhere in the level, then temporarily submerge into the air there.

Lost souls can be summoned by deep elf death mages. Non-summoned lost souls are quite rare and can be found only in ziggurats, the Borgnjor's Mausoleum wizlab or in Tartarus.

Tips & Tricks

• While it's normally reasonable to focus your attention on the largest threat in a fight with multiple enemies, be careful when doing so with lost souls around. They're fairly fragile, so it's usually worth spending a turn or two to take them out before finishing off any powerful foes.

History

• Prior to 0.19, non-summoned lost souls could be found in the Crypt.
• Lost souls were added in 0.13.