Merfolk avatar

From CrawlWiki
Revision as of 05:16, 30 April 2014 by DC Malleus (talk | contribs) (Updated for 0.14 changes)
Jump to: navigation, search
Version 0.13: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

For a list of merfolk monsters, see List of merfolk

siren mMerfolk siren.png
HP 73-96
HD 13
XP 1060
Speed 10 (swim: 60%)
AC 4
EV 12
Will 121



Resistances rDrown, rWater
Vulnerabilities None
Habitat Amphibious
Intelligence Normal
Uses Weapons & armour
Starting equipment
Open doors
Holiness Natural
Size Medium
Type mermaid, siren
Flags Fake spells
No gen derived
Speaks
Warm-blooded
Once a merfolk woman, she has become an avatar of the sunken god. Her voice can instill the same single-minded fascination that grabs hold of sailors on a long voyage. Her song also can call up the souls of others who have drowned in her waters in order to bring you the same watery bliss.


Why only female merfolk are called to become avatars of the sunken god is a mystery understood only by the avatars themselves.


“Row'd on, in reach of an erected voice,
The Sirens soon took note, without our noise,
Tuned those sweet accents that made charms so strong,
And these learn'd numbers made the Sirens' song:
‘Come here, thou worthy of a world of praise,
That dost so high the Grecian glory raise,
Ulysses! stay thy ship, and that song hear
That none past ever but it bent his ear,
But left him ravish'd, and instructed more
By us, than any ever heard before.
For we know all things whatsoever were
In wide Troy labour'd; whatsoever there
The Grecians and the Trojans both sustain'd
By those high issues that the Gods ordain'd.
And whatsoever all the earth can show
T' inform a knowledge of desert, we know.’”
-Homer, _The Odyssey_, XII, 268-82.
trans. George Chapman, 1857.

Useful Info

A siren is similar to a mermaid, except she's more seductive. Her song forces you to move one space toward her each turn (this effect is irresistible if you are already mesmerised when exposed to it). She can't drown you, so her song can only bring you into shallow water unless you're a merfolk, octopode, or grey draconian in which case she will pull you into deep water. Sirens will also regularly summon drowned souls against you. They are commonly found in the Shoals.

Variant Siren

One variation of the Sewers has a sickly siren at the end of it. She has significantly lower HD than normal sirens, but she can still call up drowned souls or pull you into the shallow water bordering the ocean at the end of the map.

A young woman with a fish tail in place of legs. She looks quite sick, but still capable of bespelling her audience.

Tips & Tricks

  • High magic resistance will let you ignore the singing effect. The spell can also be broken early by killing or confusing the siren, using a scroll of noise, or wielding a lantern of shadows to reduce your LOS so you can't see the siren anymore.
  • Although random blinks and teleports can also break mesmerism if you manage to leave LOS, you cannot willingly make controlled blinks or teleports away. If you can't lose the intrinsic no matter what, try teleporting to a space occupied by a monster to force the game to send you on a random teleport instead.
  • If you have a way to fly, then you can just go meet the siren and bash her face in. Alternatively, you can kill her from a distance with ranged attacks.

History

Prior to 0.14 sirens could not summon drowned souls.