Mara

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Mara R
HP	140
HD	18
XP	7145
Speed	10
AC	10
EV	14
Will	144
Attack1	30 (hit: plain)
Resistances	rF++, rPois+, rN+++, rTorm, rRot
Vulnerabilities	Holy, Holy wrath
Habitat	Land
Intelligence	High
Uses	Weapons & armour Starting equipment Open doors
Holiness	Demonic
Size	Medium
Type	rakshasa, rakshasa
Flags	Speaks Unique Evil See invisible Silence immune

This tall and powerful demon is Mara, Lord of Illusions, mighty among dreamers. He is capable of creating intricately detailed illusions, able to mislead even the minds of the mightiest and most brilliant spell-casters. "This night the Lord of Illusion passed among you, Mara, mighty among dreamers, mighty for ill. He did come upon another who may work with the stuff of dreams in a different way. He did meet with Dharma, who may expel a dreamer from his dream. They did struggle, and Mara is no more. Why did they struggle, deathgod against illusionist? You say their ways are incomprehensible, being the ways of gods. This is not the answer." - Roger Zelazny, "Lord of Light", 1967 "He who lives looking for pleasures only, his senses uncontrolled, immoderate in his food, idle, and weak, Mara will certainly overthrow him, as the wind throws down a weak tree." - The Buddha, _Dhammapada_, 1:7. trans. F. Max Muller

Useful Info

Mara is the unique lord of all rakshasas. Far surpassing the meager illusions of his rakshasa subjects, Mara's powers are perfectly capable of inflicting all-too-real injuries; he is a tough opponent, even for adventurers who've conquered the Realm of Zot. He always generates with a branded demon whip or demon blade, and his unique spells make him challenging regardless of your preparations:

• Mislead - While affected by this spell, all monsters that you can see (whether allied or hostile) will appear to be other monsters in glyph, name, and tile. It is temporary and has no actual effect on the monsters' stats, but not knowing what you're actually up against can lead to extremely poor tactical choices. It is blocked by clarity, and removed by rain and potions of curing.
• Fake Mara Summon - While lesser rakshasas can summon limitless, weak shadows, Mara can summon up to two robust and virtually identical clones of himself. Fake Maras generate with full health, but cannot cast Fake Mara Summon or Summon Illusion. They disappear on their own after enough time has passed, and they are vulnerable to Abjuration.
• Summon Illusion - Mara's most dangerous spell, Summon Illusion generates a hostile clone of anything but Mara (including, and usually, you) in his LOS, so long as it does not have an existing clone. When Mara clones your character, it creates a monster similar to a player ghost, except that its holiness will match yours, and it can use stairs. Like the fake Maras, these clones disappear on their own after enough time has passed, and they are vulnerable to Abjuration.

When Mara clones a monster: Mara seems to draw [the monster] out of itself! (Mara clones a monster)

When Mara clones a monster from beyond your LOS: [The monster] seems to step out of itself!

When Mara clones you: There is a horrible, sudden wrenching feeling in your soul!

Location

• The Dungeon:18-25
• The Elven Halls:3
• The Swamp:3-5
• The Snake Pit:3-5
• The Shoals:3-5
• The Spider's Nest:3-5
• The Vaults:2-5
• The Crypt
• The Hall of Blades
• The Tomb

Spells

Spell set
Slot1	Mislead
Slot2	Bolt of Fire (3d27)
Slot3	Mara Summon
Slot4	Summon Illusion
Slot5	Pain (d17)
Slot6	Teleport Self

Tips & Tricks

• Bring fire resistance: Being shot with three Bolts of Fire (3d27) on the same turn is not fun.
• An all-too-common piece of advice one often sees about Mara is to attempt to cripple your ghost. This is a bad idea, mainly because while you sit there, fiddling with your equipment (e.g. wielding a bread ration, or donning gear that lowers resistances), you aren't attacking Mara. This is even worse for players attempting to weaken a melee ghost by wielding a non-weapon: you can't attack Mara until he clones you, which, given that he has six spells he can cast, may be a considerable amount of time. Treat Mara like you would any other extremely dangerous summoner (deep elf demonologists and ancient liches, for example): kill him as quickly as possible, and if he summons something you can't handle, teleport away.
• Do not go berserk, either before Mara clones you or afterwards. Mara will blink away, leaving you slow and vulnerable when the berserk runs out. Haste and other temporary buffs are useful, however, but be aware that a clone of you made while you're buffed will also have those buffs.
  • Conjurers and other ranged damage specialists should simply haste themselves before the fight so they can take down Mara very quickly. If Mara clones you, flee, wait for the ghost to vanish, and try again later.
• The real Mara does not move when he summons copies of himself. Thus, you know his position until he blinks. You even know his position if only he blinks, but if he and one of the clones blink in the same turn, you're out of luck: there is no longer any way to tell the real Mara from the fakes.
• As with any summoner, Abjuration is very useful. Mass Abjuration is even better, although his most threatening summon, namely the player illusion, is always singular, meaning that single-target Abjuration may be sufficient. Even so, you should really just focus on taking out Mara, and avoid your ghost. The ghost will unsummon eventually, so flee from it once Mara is dead. If your ghost is too nasty, preventing you from killing Mara, flee them both and come back later. Next time you might get more damage in before he clones you, and while your clone will level up with you, Mara will not.

Trivia

In Buddhism, Mara is the demon that tempted Buddha to give up his enlightenment.