Zot trap

Version 0.16: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

A trap which inflicts dangerously unpredictable magical effects on those unlucky enough to step on it. You may find yourself thrown into the Abyss, contaminated with enormous amounts of wild magic, have mighty fiends summoned against you, or the like — it is something to avoid at all costs. The monsters of the dungeon may even trigger it themselves to invoke its effects against you.

A Zot trap is a magical trap which produces a random nasty effect, ranging from simple explosions to things such as banishment or greater demons.

Zot traps are only found on the lower levels of the dungeon and in the later branches. Most players will first see them on the last few floors of the Lair.

Effects

Zot traps have their own list of magical effects to choose from. Specifically, they have a chance of choosing from the following:

• Explosions (total 25% chance):

• 3d20 fire explosion (7.14%)
• 3d20 cold explosion (7.14%)
• 3d20 acid explosion (3.57%)
• A ball lightning is created (3.57%)
• A twister is created (3.57%)

• Summons (total 25% chance). These will be 'durable' summons (cannot be abjured, no experience):

• A soul eater (2.78%)
• A reaper (2.78%)
• A random greater demon (2.78%)
• 1-2 random common demons (5.56%)
• 2-3 random small abominations (2.78%)
• 2-5 shadow creatures (5.56%)
• Malign gateway. If this fails to place, reroll on the summons list. (2.78%)

• Other nasty effects (total 50% chance).

• 2-5 turns paralysis (3.57%)
• Petrification (3.57%)
• 3-5 immediate rotted HP (3.57%)
• Banishment. If in the Abyss, this becomes Malign Gateway. If that fails to place, reroll on the list of nasty effects. (3.57%)
• 50% chance of removing a random mutation, 50% chance of 1d2 bad mutations. (3.57%)
• Two of the following three effects: confusion, slow, 5+2d8/2 damage + 1/3 chance of teleport, 2/3 chance of blink (7.14%)
• Draining (3.57%)
• 2-14 points of magic contamination, biased towards 8. (3.57%)
• Lose 10-30 MP (3.57%)
• All wands in inventory have a 50% chance of losing a random number of charges, those wands that are drained losing half their charges on average (3.57%)
• Stat loss. Either 1-7 or 1-4, both biased towards the average. (3.57%)
• You are silenced for 10-30 turns. (3.57%)
• Word of Recall is cast on you. (3.57%)

Tips & Tricks

• It is not necessary to step onto a Zot trap to be affected by it. If a monster in your LOS steps on a Zot trap, it may "invoke the power of Zot" against you. Although it's not always an option, consider excluding Zot traps you find to guarantee you won't accidentally wander close enough to one for an unfortunate monster to stumble across it. It's unlikely, but can make life miserable when it happens.
• You can sometimes tell if you're on a floor with Zot traps by the sounds they make. A "distant Zot" means that a distant monster stepped on a Zot trap, while a "loud Zot" means it happened nearby. Either way, be ready to lure enemies away from traps as you explore the floor.
• At higher XL, you will be more likely to notice Zot traps before stepping on them.
• If you find a Zot trap while walking down a 1-tile wide hallway, it may be worthwhile to use a wand of digging, wand of disintegration, or appropriate spell to give yourself a means of stepping around the trap. Failing that, a random Blink (only if you are adjacent to the trap), or a semi-controlled Blink or Controlled Blink can get you past without an issue. If you have no alternative but to walk into a Zot trap, equip as many purely defensive items as you can first.

History

In 0.14, it was possible to be strongly poisoned by a Zot trap.

Prior to 0.13, Zot traps simply chose random magical miscast effects, and so had a much greater chance of being completely harmless.