Invisibility (ego)

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

When activated it hides its wearer from the sight of others, but also increases their metabolic rate by a large amount.

Wearing equipment with the invisibility ego grants you the Evoke Invisibility ability, allowing you to turn invisible at will. Although it requires a high Evocations skill to use reliably or for a long duration, there are no penalties for failing to evoke it, so even unskilled characters can make some use of it. However, invisibility's benefits come with significant hunger and magic contamination costs and are less dramatic than one might expect. (See the Invisible article for details.)

Note that the ego does not let you reduce the buildup of magical contamination by ending your invisibility early (you can end your invisiblity by removing the item in question, but that will just give you a bunch of contamination all at once). A large enough buildup of magical contamination will make you glow, rendering your invisibility moot among other harmful effects; be sure to take some time between fights to rest and shed your contamination.

The invisibility ego can be found on:

• Scarves
• The artefact ring of Shadows
• Some randomly generated artefacts

Desirability

Invisibility is a very useful ego, giving the wearer the ability to turn invisible without having to learn to cast a level 6 spell or use up a rare potion. It has about a 30% success rate at 0 Evocations, rising to 50% at 5 Evocations and 90% at 16 Evocations.

Invisibility grants several bonuses, such as decreased enemy to-hit, an increased chance for enemies to forget about you or fail to notice you entirely, and the ability to get level 2 stabs. This ego proves especially useful in the Swamp, the Shoals and the Spider's Nest, where most enemies cannot see invisible. Just be sure not to enter water, as enemies will be able to see the very noticeable adventurer-shaped hole you leave in it.

History

• Prior to 0.25, invisibility generated on cloaks instead of scarves.
• Prior to 0.21, removing an invisibility-ego item while invisible did not cost the player extra magical contamination.
• Prior to 0.20, this ego would let the player turn visible again once invisible, as a way to reduce contamination.
• Prior to 0.18, this ego could be found on rings.
• Prior to 0.16, this was called the Darkness ego.