Pray

You may pray to the various gods of Crawl by pressing p. Prayer's effect depends entirely on the particular god you worship.

Praying at an altar whose god you are not currently worshiping will give you an offer to enter that god's service (if eligible). Be aware that if you already worship another god, switching religions may result in penance (see individual gods for details). Merely praying at another god's altar and declining to convert will have no effect, however.

Several gods accept offerings of corpses or other items through prayer, granting piety in exchange. Normally only items on your tile (that is, on the floor) are affected; exceptions include gold in your inventory for Zin and corpses in your line of sight for Fedhas. It takes one turn to offer corpses.

Praying at an altar to your god usually has no special effect, though there are exceptions. A few gods offer once-per-game favors if you pray at their altars at high piety, usually granting a brand for your weapon. Praying at an altar to Zin, if you are a follower of his, will give you the chance to donate half your gold to gain piety.

God	Ordinary Effect	Effect on Altar
Atheist	-	Join a religion
Ashenzari	Convert scrolls of remove curse to "curse foo"	-
Beogh	"Bury" orcs	-
Elyvilon	-	-
Fedhas Madash	Decompose all corpses in sight, including some undead	-
Jiyva	Temporarily stops jellies from eating items	-
Kikubaaqudgha	-	Grants Necronomicon or pain brand at ****** piety, once per game
Lugonu	Offer corpses	Corrupt your weapon at ****** piety, once per game
Makhleb	Offer corpses	-
Nemelex Xobeh	Offer items (anything but Decks or gold)	-
Okawaru	-	-
Sif Muna	-	-
The Shining One	-	Bless a weapon, once per game
Trog	Offer corpses	-
Vehumet	-	-
Xom	-	-
Yredelemnul	-	-
Zin	Satiation if you're starving	Offer half your gold for Piety