Summon
| This monster has been summoned, and is thus temporary. Killing it yields no experience or items; it is incapable of using stairs. |
Summons are creatures bound by magical forces, most often created by the Summonings school of spells. For the most part, summoned monsters function much like real monsters, with the following exceptions:
- They are worth no experience or piety, and leave nothing behind when slain.
- Vampiric weapons and Vampiric Draining don't work on them.
- They eventually "time out" regardless of their HP, vanishing in a cloud of smoke.
- Summoned monsters immediately vanish upon the death of their summoner.
- Most player summons will vanish if angered. Demons produced by Makhleb and the Malign Gateway spell instead turn hostile.
- They are vulnerable to abjuration and Yara's Violent Unravelling.
- They will not follow you up or down stairs. This allows you to flee hostile summoned units and return after sufficient time has passed. Your own summoned allies will disappear immediately when you change floors.
- They will not attack monsters outside of the player's line of sight.
Duration
Summoned monsters are generated with a duration between 1 and 6. This value roughly corresponds to the following amount in auts (arbitrary units of time; 10 aut = 1 "turn"):
- 90 aut
- 180 aut
- 270 aut
- 360 aut
- 810 aut
- 1710 aut
Some Summonings spells have a fixed duration. Other spells increase duration with power (spellpower, piety, etc.).
Summon Limit
Most Summonings spells have a cap on how many monsters you can sustain at any one time; exceeding the limit will cause the oldest monsters to time out almost immediately. Other sources of summons, like gods, evocables, and the scroll of summoning, are unaffected.
Durable Summon
| This monster has been summoned in a durable way, and only partially exists. Killing it yields no experience or items, and it cannot be abjured. |
A durable summon, or monster that is durably summoned, is similar to a summoned monster with a few notable exceptions:
- They never disappear.
- They are not vulnerable to abjuration or Yara's Violent Unravelling.
- They will follow you up or down stairs.
- They can be targeted by Vampiric Draining.
Durable summons are most often used as punishments for the player; whenever from the divine retribution of several gods, or nameless horrors from miscast Summonings spells.
History
- Prior to 0.28, summoned monsters would steal XP proportional to their damage dealt (1/2 XP if you did no damage)
- Prior to 0.25, regularly summoned monsters could not be effected by Inner Flame (or a scroll of immolation). Most summoned creatures also didn't vanish when they became hostile.
- Prior to 0.19, the mercenary card would create allied durable summons.
- Prior to 0.18, the warding intrinsic existed to counter (non durable) summons.
