Atropa

Version 0.28: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

It is tipped with a substance that causes blindness and brief confusion.

Atropa is a brand found only on darts. When struck with an atropa-tipped dart, the target will be blinded and may become confused; the blindness will last longer than the confusion.

Unlike most brands, atropa's effectiveness is determined by the player's skill in Throwing and Stealth, and resisted by the target's hit dice:

• For monsters with HD < 15, there is an initial fixed 3% chance of success;
• Otherwise, the chance is 100 - 100 * (HD - 2) / (4 + pow), where pow = (Throwing + Stealth) * 2 / 3.

Strategy

Atropa is probably most effective when used for setting up stabbing opportunities, but any fight is made easier if your opponent can't see you or think straight.

Atropa works well enough on early threats like gnolls or orc warriors, but without investment in Throwing and/or Stealth, these darts will be mostly useless on monsters by the time you reach the Lair.

Trivia

Atropa refers to a genus of poisonous plants, the most well-known of which is Belladonna (a.k.a. Deadly Nightshade).

History

Atropa was introduced in 0.24, replacing the old confusion brand found on needles.