Spellforged Servitor

Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

This page covers the spell. For the summoned construct, see Spellforged servitor (monster).

Spellforged Servitor
Level	7
School1	Conjuration
School2	Summoning
Source(s)	Book of Dangerous Friends Book of Power
Casting noise	6
Spell noise	0
Power Cap	200

Summons an extraplanar elemental and binds it to a durable shell forged from the caster's own magic. The servitor is capable of unleashing some of the destructive spells known to its creator, though the strongest and most volatile of magics cannot be imbued in this fashion. The strength of the servitor increases with spell power. “When you think Your toys have gone berserk It's an illusion You cannot shirk” -Siouxsie and the Banshees, “Spellbound”

Spellforged Servitor is a level 7 Conjurations/Summonings spell which calls a spellforged servitor into existence. This is a fairly durable, omni-resistant construct which knows one destructive spell from your own list of known spells.

Effect

One spellforged servitor is summoned. There is a summon limit of 1; casting the spell again will cause the old summon to very quickly time out.

It will know the first among the following spells that you have memorized and can cast with a greater than 50% success rate:

• Lehudib's Crystal Spear
• Orb of Destruction
• Iron Shot
• Plasma Beam
• Fireball
• Stone Arrow
• Lee's Rapid Deconstruction
• Airstrike
• Conjure Ball Lightning
• Freezing Cloud
• Mephitic Cloud
• Sticky Flame

The current spell choice is displayed in the full spell description for Spellforged Servitor. The spellpower of its spell is based upon the spellpower with which you cast Spellforged Servitor in the first place.

Duration of the summons is around 36 turns, it does not depend on the spell power.

Unlike other summons, spellforged servitors won't vanish or become hostile if you attack them.

Strategy

An excellent, MP-efficient spell for an otherwise Conjurations-focused caster. Spellforged Servitor offers all the benefits of a summon (MP efficiency, blocks enemy line of fire, takes hits for you), and it's a great spell for combat too. It can cast Iron Shot or Lehudib's Crystal Spear multiple times for only 7 MP.

Since its offenses are based on the spells you know, a Summoner won't benefit as much from this spell. However, it's easy to pick up a spell like Stone Arrow, which gives a 3d20 or so attack from the get go. Plus, summoners can always appreciate an extra summon on hand.

As a summon, servitors have moderate durability and great resistances. A lucky servitor with a solid spell can beat orbs of fire in a straight fight (while blocking malmutates).

Spells

Spells that are good with Spellforged Servitor:

• Earth Magic: Iron Shot and LCS both work well, simple and strong spells. Even Stone Arrow is a good option, since monsters will cast Stone Arrow much stronger than you can.
• Plasma Beam: Like earth magic, with better range, though it can be resisted.

Spells that you should avoid with Spellforged Servitor:

• Conjure Ball Lightning: It's even more dangerous in a servitor's hands than in yours.
• Orb of Destruction: Monster AI isn't the best at firing OODs; it often misses. Worst case scenario, orbs can end up hitting you.

Tips & Tricks

• The servitor's stats depends on your abilities at time of cast. You can use wizardry or intelligence to decrease a spell's failure rate, then swap back after summoning.
• Make sure you do not rely on your servitor casting a spell to survive a sketchy situation. It may sling two spells in three turns and just as likely wait ten turns between spells. The message "Your Spellforged Servitor hums quietly as it recharges" indicates that it is not yet ready to cast again.
• Your servitor won't disappear or become hostile you if you harm it. So feel free to sling a Fireball or Fire Storm right on top of your servitor. At worst, you kill it.

Monster Version

Spellforged Servitors summoned by monsters will know all of the caster's destructive spells.

The following enemies cast Spellforged Servitor:

• @ Frederick

Frederick's spellforged servitor will know Bolt of Cold and Force Lance, in addition to any valid player spells (in Frederick's case, this is just Iron Shot).

History

• In 0.27, many low level and (now) monster-only spells were pruned from the eligible spell list, in order to accommodate Djinn.
• Prior to 0.25, your servitor gained a random selection of up to 5 of your destructive spells.
• Spellforged Servitor was added in 0.14.