Malign Gateway

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

Malign Gateway
Level	7
School1	Summoning
School2	Translocation
Source(s)	Grand Grimoire
Casting noise	6
Spell noise	0
Power Cap	200
Flags	Chaotic, Unholy

Tears a gash in reality, creating a self-sustained but temporary portal to an unknown, tainted otherworld. It requires open space to succeed. After a short time, a powerful clawed tentacle will reach through the portal, remaining bound to the caster's will for a duration depending on power. With the portal's expiry, the tentacle will be severed and turn on the caster. The duration of the portal increases with spell power.

Malign Gateway is a level 7 Summoning/Translocation spell which summons a portal through which an eldritch tentacle emerges.

Effect

Opens up a gateway for eldritch tentacle in a random nearby location with floor or shallow water and no adjacent walls. Higher spell power makes the tentacle remain friendly longer.

It takes 1d2 turns before a tentacle emerges from the gateway. The tentacle stays friendly for (1d<power> + 5d(<power> + 1)) / 6 - 1 - (1d4 - 1) turns, or until the gateway is closed and the tentacle is severed. A severed tentacle is neutral, and may harm adjacent creatures (including the player) while it thrashes.

There is a small chance that a tentacle will grow enraged after a portion of its duration has been expired. Enraged tentacles are hostile to the player and lethal in melee, though cannot extend much further than the portal they are tethered to.

There can only be one such portal open at a time. This means that if you cast the spell, enemies who know the spell will be unable to cast it until yours closes (and vice versa).

Strategy

• Eldritch tentacles are bulky, powerful, fast, capable of hitting the average monster for up to 70 HP of chaotic damage per attack and inflicting all manner of extra effects with each hit. Enemies may be hasted, but the tentacle will often manage, anyway.
  • Tentacles also come with just about every resistance in the book; elementally reliant enemies like orbs of fire simply can't damage them.
• The portal can open in any suitable location in your line of sight. Try casting the spell in such places where the portal can only appear between you and your enemies.
• Although extremely powerful, the tentacle is not summoned instantaneously. A few turns will pass before the tentacle emerges from the portal, so plan accordingly.
• The spell requires an open area to cast. An attempt to cast in a narrow corridor will fail, but it won't waste a turn.
• It is recommended to not actively remain close to the end of the tentacle as this spell’s duration ticks, as an enraged tentacle is extremely dangerous, inflicting multiple high damage chaos-branded attacks every turn.
• Eldritch tentacles cannot be abjured.

History

• Prior to 0.28, you could enter into the portal of an empty Malign Gateway to blink and take minor damage.
• Prior to 0.25, the tentacle could attack outside of the player's line of sight. Also, it arrived later after the gateway was opened: it required 2-4 turns instead of 1-2 turns.
• Prior to 0.17, casting this spell had a 20% chance of causing 1d3 points of temporary Intelligence damage.
• Malign Gateway was added in 0.8.