Petrify

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Petrify
Level	4
School1	Transmutation
School2	Earth
Source(s)	Book of Alchemy Book of Geomancy Book of Hinderance
Casting noise	3
Spell noise	0

This spell attempts to petrify a monster. If successful, the monster is slowed down for a while until it is temporarily turned into stone. In this state, a monster will take less damage upon being hit.

Petrify is a level 4 Transmutations/Earth Magic spell that will first slow, then a few turns later petrifies its target. This leaves the victim unable to move or act for several turns, during which time they cannot dodge attacks, are vulnerable to tier-2 Stabbing attempts, and will no longer be airborne if normally capable of flight or levitation. However, because the victim is now made of stone, he receives significantly less damage: -50% while petrified, -33% while petrifying (after AC). This spell requires a clear line of fire and checks magic resistance.

Stone golems, catoblepases, statues, and insubstantial creatures cannot be petrified by any means.

Strategy

• Normally the target stops almost instantly, but it seems that special abilities are not slowed while petrifying, so be careful around that electric eel.
• Stopping opponents with Petrify can be extremely useful for making escapes. Individual pursuers can be frozen in place while you run to a safe place to heal. Petrifying the lead monster of a pack that's chasing you through a narrow hallways will stop all the others behind it. When successful, Petrify is generally more effective and longer lasting than Conjure Flame, Confuse, or Slow for escaping foes.
• Petrify has nice synergy with Lee's Rapid Deconstruction (and to a lesser extent with Shatter): petrified targets have the same vulnerability to these spells as statues. If you wait until the target is entirely petrified, hitting it with LRD will create a very large explosion of shrapnel, which can be quite useful against groups of monsters.
• Flying monsters can be drowned with this spell. This is particularly useful against the harpies in Shoals, who have fairly low magic resistance.