Robe of Misfortune

Version 0.29: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

A splendid flowing robe of fur and silk whose lucky colour has faded.

the +5 robe of Misfortune

+5 robe

+5 EV
Harm property (+30% damage dealt, +20% damage taken)
Can slow the wearer on taking damage
Can corrode the wearer on taking damage

Desirability

On the surface, the Robe of Misfortune seems like a terrible artefact; Harm is already a risky property to use, and both *Slow and *Corrode are nasty status effects when applied at the wrong time. The +5 enchantment and +5 EV certainly make it an above-average robe otherwise. And Harm can be good on blaster characters, as it increases your damage more than your enemies'. But, overall, it's a dangerous artefact for most characters.

Harm and *Slow are the two more dangerous properties -- if you can counteract Slow and make use of Harm, such as being a Formicid mage, it can be useful. It still remains a very dubious item for everyone else.

History

• Prior to 0.28, this item contaminated and drained the wearer on unequip.
• Prior to 0.23, this unrand had a randomised appearance and was not pre-identified on sight, and was a completely useless and terrible item, rather than just a dubious item: it was -5 {EV-5 -Cast *Tele Stlth-- *Contam *Drain *Curse}.
• Prior to 0.19, the EV penalty was only -4, and the robe had -2 penalties to Dex, Str, and Int.
• Prior to 0.15 the stealth penalty was -80.
• Prior to 0.12, the Robe of Misfortune was even more dangerous to wear, as it would increase your magical contamination while you wore it. However, since its contamination was gradual, it was far less dangerous to try on if you had a scroll of remove curse handy.