Scroll of torment

Version 0.33: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

Type	Scroll
Name	Scroll of torment
Icon

A scroll that calls on the powers of darkness to inflict great pain on any nearby creature -- including the reader! This halves the resilience of all living creatures, although it is never directly fatal.

Reading a scroll of torment inflicts torment on yourself and all monsters in your line of sight, cutting their HP in half. Monsters that are demonic, undead, nonliving, or holy are immune. For players, only undead are immune. Each rank of rN+ offers 10% damage reduction (-5% max HP lost). Only undead players are immune to torment.

This scroll is considered evil, so the good gods forbid its intentional use.

Strategy

Flat out using a scroll of torment without immunity is inherently dubious, as it halves your HP, then monsters get a turn to act. However, it does have uses:

• Immunity or resistance to torment will negate the downside.
  • The undead (Poltergeist, Revenant, Mummy) are naturally immune, and Gargoyles/Statue Form players have protection.
  • Any non-undead species can gain torment immunity through a potion of lignification (at the cost of not moving).
  • Worshippers of Kikubaaqudgha with sufficiently high piety have a chance to receive some protection from torment effects, sometimes preventing the damage altogether.
• If you have ranged attacks and a monster doesn't, you can pelt the monster and potentially kill it before it reaches you, allowing you to possibly kill out of depth monsters. Ideally, you should be standing on an upstair or have another way to retreat from the monster.
• Healing after using torment can let you win fights you wouldn't have, namely in the early game when you have few other options.

Torment is especially good for taking out the Royal Jelly. Tormenting TRJ still creates high-level jellies, but you can follow up with a scroll of immolation, Ignition, or a number of strategies mentioned in TRJ's page. A second torment may be necessary. Having torment immunity is helpful.

Without a means of healing and/or escape, you'll want some form of heavy torment resistance (Gargoyles, Statue Form, Kiku protection...) before using this scroll. Usually, there are better last resorts than torment.

Once you reach Zot:5 and extended, almost all monsters are immune to torment, making this scroll nearly pointless.