Trog

Version 0.12: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

"Kill them all!"

Trog the Wrathful is an ancient god of anger and violence. Trog expects his followers to slaughter in his name and make blood sacrifices of their enemies. In return, Trog grants them power in battle (most notably the ability to berserk at will) and gifts of enchanted weapons. Trog hates all wizards (this means spellcasters broadly, not just wizards), and loves to see their magical books burn. Followers are forbidden the use of spells themselves.

Oddly enough, Trog is not considered an evil god, despite his/her portfolio of indiscriminate bloodshed and wrath.

Berserkers start with this religion.

Racial Restrictions

Demigods cannot worship Trog (or any other deity).

Unlike many gods, the undead are not banned from worship. However, there are some limitations. Mummies and Ghouls cannot berserk and thus lose much of the benefit of this religion. Vampires will also be unable to berserk if their satiation falls below full.

Appreciates

• You or your allies killing the living, especially spellcasters.
• You or your allies killing demons or holy monsters.
• Sacrificing corpses (by standing over them and praying). Trog only accepts fresh corpses, not rotting ones, skeletons, or chunks, but doesn't care whether you're actually the one who killed the creature.
• Burning spellbooks.

Deprecates

• Inactivity, Piety decreases with time (about once every 280 turns), and you will be excommunicated if it falls to 0.
• Memorizing or casting spells.
• Devoting skill points to magic skills, including spellcasting.
• Abandoning him/her.

Given Abilities

Piety level -: "Troglodyte"

• Burn Book - Turns a spellbook into a cloud of flame, granting you piety in exchange. The rarer the book, the longer the cloud will remain. (Costs 10-20 Food)
• Protection From Abjuration - Abjurations cast against your servants are 20% less effective. (Passive)
• Berserk Bonus - If you kill a monster while berserk, you have a Piety/10% chance of adding 4-13 more turns to your rage. After berserking, if you fail the check to pass out from exhaustion (10% chance in normal conditions), there's a Piety/1.5% chance of negating that. (Passive)

Piety level *: "Angry Troglodyte"

• Berserk - Go berserk. You cannot berserk if you are hungry or still exhausted from previous berserking. (Costs 200-400 Food)

Piety level **: "Frenzied"

• Trog's Hand - Provides 1 HP/turn regeneration and increased magic resistance for a number of turns depending on piety. (Costs 50-100 Food and 2-3 Piety)

Piety level ***: "[Species Name] of Prey"

• No new abilities.

Piety level ****: "Rampant"

• Brothers In Arms - Summons a powerful berserking ally, the species of which depends on piety. At low piety levels (****), you get ogres, two-headed ogres, black bears, and grizzly bears, while at high levels (***** or ******) you get trolls, iron trolls, deep trolls, hill giants and stone giants. They are always friendly. Their berserk can expire, although this usually occurs only shortly before they time out. It has a high rate of failure, but this falls as piety rises. If it fails, nothing happens: you don't lose piety or food. (Costs 100-200 Food and 5-6 Piety)

Piety level *****: "Wild [Species Name]"

• No new abilities.

Piety level ******: "Bane of Scribes"

• No new abilities.

Unlike other gods, Trog's powers do not require the Invocations skill. Their chance of success is determined solely by your piety.

Gifts

Piety 81+

• Ammunition. This only happens if you have a ranged combat skill of at least 8 and are holding a launcher (which determines the ammunition gifted). The ammunition is often enchanted. If you are not holding a launcher the gift will be darts, javelins, or large rocks. The gift timeout for ammo is 2d4 + 4.

Piety 130+

• Weapons. The weapon created will be enchanted, similar to using a scroll of acquirement, and artifacts are possible. Trog is particularly fond of gifting weapons with the anti-magic brand, though he will gift other types as well. The weapon chosen is weighted based on your weapon skills, though there is always a small chance of receiving a weapon for which you have no skill. Trog's weapon gifts are biased towards having a low to-hit enchantment and a high to-damage enchantment. The gift timeout for each weapon ranges from 31 to 49.

Punishments

• Hostile Brothers In Arms (very dangerous).
• Rots, weakens, paralyses or slows you.
• Fiery rage (a fire miscast effect).

Strategy

Trog is one of the best gods for pure melee warriors, especially if they are Ogres, Minotaurs, Trolls, or other monstrous species who won't miss their pathetic spellcasting abilities. Kobolds ironically enough also make fantastic berserkers, their ability to stay constantly engorged without a hunger penalty basically ensures they can berserk every fight. Also, don't forget Trog also gifts ammo so Trog can be a good choice for hunters with slow metabolisms, who can spare a few corpses to sacrifice.

Berserking is handy for pulverizing enemies, but don't forget that the Haste it provides can be used to get away from trouble, too. Be very careful using this without a staircase in view though: you don't want to end up slowed next to the very thing you were trying to escape from.

Trog's Hand has regeneration that can be used to counteract the effects of poison should you be near death with no other ability to heal available. The magic resistance it provides can be useful should you find yourself near a banishing monster with no MR items to swap in.

Trog's berserk summons are quite worthy (and do not have any risk of spawning hostile like Makhleb's demons), but remember that you cannot invoke that while you are berserking. If you need help for a big battle, remember to call your friends first, then start the party!

The Burn Books ability can be used to create a single use "landmine". The best position to use is in a single tile hallway, drop the book as you run, to block your opponents progress, set it off before they step over it. To weaken your opponent before a counter-berserk charge, set it off when they step over it. The only downside is that this technique requires at least a 3 tile gap between you and your enemy.

Alternatively you may either drop a book and step back or throw one (with 'F' and then '.' to force it to stay on desired square even if it misses) on your enemy's square and then set it ablaze. Keep your enemy in the flames to greatly enhance your damage output.

Trog's wrath summons are dangerous, but by the time you come to abandoning him, you should be strong enough to take the berzerked monsters on, or have the resources to get away quickly.

Tips & Tricks

Trog's altar often has a random spellbook placed near it. If you want the spellbook, don't approach it; if you do, Trog will incinerate it. Apportation seems the only way to retain this spellbook. (Scroll of blinking might also work.). However, this is always an artefact spellbook containing only Apportation, so it is not worth the effort. Feel free to burn it yourself before Trog does, if you are a worshipper.

Although Trog dislikes spell-casting, he doesn't mind when you evoke evocable items (like rods and wands). These items can be particularly useful for Trog worshipers.

History

Prior to 0.12 burning unidentified books gave more piety, and Rock trolls were in the list of possible BiA.