Riddle talisman

Version 0.33: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

An intricate puzzlebox containing an unknowable prize. Transforms the user into a riddle-loving sphinx. In this form, they are capable of wearing a cloak and barding, and their melee attacks cause powerful winds to strike their foe which do increased damage for every open space next to them. They are also masterful enchanters, casting Hex spells much more easily and ignoring a portion of their foe's Willpower. Alas, their love of riddles is so compulsive that even the most hardened adventurer will be unable to resist posing them to new foes they encounter, no matter how unwise this may be.

A riddle talisman is a talisman that turns you into a sphinx.

Useful Info

When eVoked, a riddle talisman transforms you into Sphinx Form, which lasts until you end the form. Entering or exiting a form takes 5 turns.

Sphinx Form has the following effects:

Offensive traits

• Unarmed combat: 3 base damage (no bonus)
• Attacks create an airstrike on the target, with the damage scaling with Shapeshifting skill:
  • Below minimum: (1-4)d11 damage (0 skill) - (1-4)d13 damage (17 skill)
  • Above minimum: (1-4)d13 damage (17 skill) - (1-4)d18 damage (25 skill)
  • More open spaces adjacent to the target will result in a higher damage dice being used.
• Gain wizardry for hexes.
• All enemies have their willpower effectively lowered by 40 (Will-) for the purposes of your actions, similar to using an orb of guile without its downside.
• Encountering new enemies will sometimes force you to shout, possibly vexing or confusing foes.

Defensive traits

• +15% HP
• +7 AC
• Willpower+
• Grants flight.
• Bardings can be worn, even if this would not be possible normally. This does not apply to Felids.

Restrictions

• Melded Gear: All armor except bardings and cloaks
• Suppressed mutations: Anatomy

Sphinx Form has a minimum Shapeshifting skill of 17, below which you get an HP penalty. The maximum skill for this form is 25.

Strategy

The willpower reduction is strong; many monsters have surprisingly low willpower, which makes even low-level hexes like Slow effective on enemies found later in the game. The buff is not just for spells, as wands, scrolls of fear, and Lugonu's Banishment can all benefit.

Having to put ~17 levels into Shapeshifting, in addition to Hexes (or another will-related skill) is a lot, especially considering the presence of infinite will enemies. However:

• If it helps clear enemies pre-Zot, it's arguably worth it on its own.
• In Zot and beyond, where infinite will enemies are common, the Shapeshifting skill can be used for another form like Dragon Form

Sphinx form	Sphinx form (barding)	Felid	Gargoyle	Gargoyle (barding)

History

• Riddle talismans were added in 0.33.