Difference between revisions of "Ashenzari"

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[[File:Ashenzari altar.png]] ''"Partake of my vision. Partake of my curse."''
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[[File:Ashenzari altar.png]] "Partake of my vision. Partake of my curse."''
 
{{flavour|While it seems inconceivable that the divine could be shackled, Ashenzari is just that: bound to the sky for eternity, the unbudging god is all-knowing, all-seeing. Devoted worshippers are allowed to grasp shreds of this knowledge and foresight, but be warned: to Ashenzari, power and blessing and curse are all the same thing.
 
{{flavour|While it seems inconceivable that the divine could be shackled, Ashenzari is just that: bound to the sky for eternity, the unbudging god is all-knowing, all-seeing. Devoted worshippers are allowed to grasp shreds of this knowledge and foresight, but be warned: to Ashenzari, power and blessing and curse are all the same thing.
  
Ashenzari exhorts followers to garb themselves with curses, and appreciates exploration while using cursed armour, jewellery or weapons. Followers will soon be granted the ability to scry through walls. Ashenzari will passively grant followers increased skills depending on how cursed they are by equipment associated with those skills, and will reveal the invisible and grant clarity of mind. The truly devout will gain the ability to transfer a portion of their knowledge from one skill to another.
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Ashenzari exhorts followers to curse their possessions, periodically offering these curses to worshipers as they explore. Cursed equipment cannot be enchanted and only be removed by shattering it forever. However, these curses enhance specific skills. They will also please Ashenzari, who will reveal the invisible and grant clarity of mind. The truly devout will gain a fragment of Ashenzari's astral sight, letting them see through walls.
  
Ashenzari likes it when you explore the world (preferably while bound by curses).  
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Ashenzari likes it when you bind yourself with curses.
  
Ashenzari's powers are based on piety instead of Invocations skill.}}
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Ashenzari's powers are not affected by Invocations skill.}}
  
 
==Racial restrictions==
 
==Racial restrictions==
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==Appreciates==
 
==Appreciates==
Ashenzari likes it when you explore the world (preferably while using cursed gear).
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Ashenzari likes it when you [[curse]] your equipment. Curses are offered periodically during exploration (approximately one curse per ordinary Dungeon floor fully explored, if you have no curses pending).
  
You have four equipment categories: armour, weapon, shield and jewellery. A category is considered "partially bound" if more than half the slots available for your species contain cursed equipment (this takes later effects such as [[Ru]]'s Sacrifice Hand, the [[macabre finger necklace]], or [[Lear's hauberk]] into consideration); a category is "fully bound" if all slots available contain cursed equipment. The more bound you are, the faster you'll acquire piety, and the more powerful several of Ashenzari's gifts will be. When transformed, your bound status is based on your equipment pre-transformation.
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[[Piety]] is entirely dependent on how many equipment slots you have bound. For an unmutated [[human]], each cursed item will provide 17 piety. The usual 15 piety gained by worship is negated (so having 1 cursed item is 17 piety, not 17 + 15). Slot limiting effects, such as two-handed weapons, [[species]]-specific equipment restrictions, [[Ru]]'s Sacrifice Hand, or [[Lear's hauberk]] are taken into consideration, and give proportionally more piety per curse. Cursed items that are melded due to [[transformation]]s still contribute to your piety, but do not provide their associated skill boosts.
 
 
For piety gain, [[felid]]s simply count cursed jewellery, with an additional bonus if all jewellery is cursed.
 
  
 
==Deprecates==
 
==Deprecates==
 
* Abandonment.
 
* Abandonment.
* Inactivity (loses about 1 [[Piety]] every 500 turns).
+
* Uncursing items (loss of piety given by the cursed slot; will never cause excommunication)
 +
* Piety with Ashenzari does not decrease over time.
  
 
==Given Abilities==
 
==Given Abilities==
 
'''Piety level (0):''' "Cursed"
 
'''Piety level (0):''' "Cursed"
*[[Scrolls of remove curse]] are immediately identified upon converting to Ashenzari.
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*'''Curse Item:''' Curse an equipped item, granting you piety and two skill bonuses (see below), but turning the item into an [[artefact]] that cannot be altered or removed. Curses are offered periodically as you explore; if you get a new offer but haven't taken the previous one, the new offer will replace the old one.
*'''Curse Item:''' curse items in your inventory. Costs one scroll of remove curse per item, and can't be used if the player has no scrolls.
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**[[Unrandart]] weapons that change their own enchantment as part of their mechanics (like [[Wyrmbane]] and [[Maxwell's Thermic Engine]]) can still do so even after you curse them.
*'''Improved behavior of curse-related scrolls:''' Ashenzari worshippers reading a scroll of remove curse may select which pieces of equipment they wish it to apply to (instead of automatically uncursing everything as usual). Also, any weapons, armour, or jewelry you receive through a [[scroll of acquirement]] will be pre-cursed. (Passive)
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**Ashenzari will block random [[mutation]]s that would break a cursed item, such as [[Horns]] with a cursed [[helmet]]. Note that [[demonspawn mutation]]s are unaffected.
*'''Prevent Curses:''' Prevents external item cursing from [[death curse]]s and [[miscast]] effects. (Passive)
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*'''Shatter the Chains:''' Destroys a cursed item, freeing up that slot but reducing your piety accordingly. Also removes the currently offered curse, if one exists. This does not count as an unequip, so weapons of [[distortion]] and [[artefact]]s with *[[magical contamination|Contam]] or *[[Drain]] are safe to curse.
''The Detect Foo abilities start with a radius of 0, but their radius and power increases with piety.''
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*'''Divine Knowledge:''' All of these abilities are passive. Many of them start with a radius of 0, but their radius and power increase with piety.
*'''Detect Curses:''' All items in sight will display as Cursed or Uncursed. (Passive)
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**'''Detect Monsters:''' Shows the location and relative strength, but not the type, of monsters beyond your field of vision.
*'''Detect Items:''' Shows the location, but not the type, of items beyond your field of vision. (Passive)
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**'''Detect Items:''' Shows the location, but not the type, of items beyond your field of vision.
*'''Detect Traps:''' Provides immunity to traps triggered by exploration. (Passive)
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**'''Detect Terrain:''' Maps random tiles beyond your field of vision, similar to the [[Passive Mapping]] mutation. Functions even in the [[Abyss]].
*'''Detect Monsters:''' Shows the location and relative strength, but not the type, of monsters beyond your field of vision. (Passive)
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**'''Detect Portals:''' Reveals the location of [[portal]]s, including in the [[Abyss]]. ("You have a vision of a gate.")
*'''Detect Terrain:''' Maps random tiles beyond your field of vision, similar to the [[deep dwarf]] [[Passive Mapping|mutation]]. It works in [[Labyrinth]]s and [[the Abyss]]. (Passive)
 
*'''Portal Detection:''' Instant detection of portals, including in the Abyss ("You have a vision of a gate."). (Passive)
 
*'''Partial Identify:'''  The type of [[ego]] weapons and armour is identified. Jewellery is identified. Weapons are completely identified if you are wielding a cursed weapon; armour is if you are wearing cursed armour in the same slot. (Passive)
 
  
 
'''Piety level (*):''' "Initiated"
 
'''Piety level (*):''' "Initiated"
*'''Scrying:''' When active, all walls are transparent for you, but not for monsters. You cannot [[smite]]-target through them. Costs 4 MP, 50-100 Food, 2-3 Piety.
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*'''Identify Items:''' All items you are carrying are immediately identified upon reaching this piety level. Ashenzari will also identify on sight any items you find as you explore, but items you have yet to see will remain unidentified should you lose enough piety or abandon Ashenzari.
  
 
'''Piety level (**):''' "Soothsayer"
 
'''Piety level (**):''' "Soothsayer"
*'''Skill boost:''' For each equipment category you bind, Ashenzari will boost your skills. Different kinds of equipment offer different bonuses. There are 3 levels of bonus given, depending on the type of slots involved and if the category is fully or partially bound; the bonus rises as you gain piety stars beyond **. The bonus respects skill aptitudes, so a higher aptitude skill will get a better bonus, all else being equal.  
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* '''[[See invisible]]:''' Ashenzari allows you to see invisible creatures.
 +
 
 +
'''Piety level (***):''' "Seer"
 +
* '''[[Clarity]]:''' Protects you from [[confusion]], [[mesmerise|mesmerisation]], [[fear]], [[sleep]], and unintentionally going [[berserk]] (you may still willingly go berserk by using the [[potion of berserk rage|potion]]).
 +
 
 +
'''Piety level (****):''' "Oracle"
 +
*'''Protection from malevolent surprises:''' Blocks [[malevolent force]]s from triggering during exploration.
 +
*'''Detect Terrain''' is upgraded - every tile within a radius of ([[LOS]]_range + 1) is mapped.
 +
 
 +
'''Piety level (*****):''' "Illuminatus"
 +
* No new abilities.
  
If you have piety ****** and skill level around 5-15, a high boost to an aptitude 0 skill will give over 5 bonus skill levels, a medium boost will give around 4, and a low boost around 2.5. This bonus drops off slowly as skill levels get high, but is always significant (though you can never have an effective skill level over 27). The bonus is reduced dramatically at very low skill levels (for example, a high boost to an untrained skill is only 0.7 skill levels).
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'''Piety level (******):''' "Omniscient"
 +
* No new abilities. Unlike other gods, Ashenzari's piety caps at 170; you must curse every equipment slot possible to achieve this maximum.
  
{| cellpadding="5" border="1"
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==Curses==
! Bound part || Equipment || Bound level || Boosted skills || Bonus
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Each curse you make will provide a boost to two distinct groups of [[skill]]s, then make the item into an unremovable artefact. These groups are listed as follows:
|-
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{| class="wikitable"
| Hands || Two-handed weapon || N/A || Weapon skill || High
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! Group || Boosted skills
 
|-
 
|-
| Weapon hand || Weapon || N/A || Weapon skill || Medium
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| Beguiling || [[Hexes]], [[Translocations]]
 
|-
 
|-
| Weapon hand || [[Magical_staff#Enhancer_Staves | Enhancer staff]] || N/A || Staves and Evocations || Low
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| Companions || [[Summonings]], [[Necromancy]]
 
|-
 
|-
| Weapon hand || [[Magical_staff#Other_Staves | Evokable staff]] || N/A || Evocations || Medium
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| Cunning || [[Dodging]], [[Stealth]]
|-
 
| Weapon hand || [[Magical_staff#Other_Staves| Other staff]] || N/A || Spellcasting || Medium
 
 
|-
 
|-
| Shield hand || Shield || N/A || Shields || Low
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| Devices || [[Evocations]], [[Shapeshifting]]
 
|-
 
|-
| Armour || Light armour^^ || Partial || Stealth and Dodging || Low
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| Elements || [[Fire Magic]], [[Ice Magic]], [[Air Magic]], [[Earth Magic]]
 
|-
 
|-
| Armour || Light armour^^ || Full || Stealth and Dodging || Medium
+
| Fortitude || [[Armour]], [[Shields]]
 
|-
 
|-
| Armour || Medium armour^^ || Partial || Armour and Dodging || Low
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| Introspection || [[Fighting]], [[Spellcasting]]
 
|-
 
|-
| Armour || Medium armour^^ || Full || Armour and Dodging || Medium
+
| Melee Combat || All [[melee weapon]] skills, including [[Unarmed Combat]]
 
|-
 
|-
| Armour || Heavy armour^^ || Partial || Armour || Medium
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| Ranged Combat || [[Ranged Weapons]], [[Throwing]]
 
|-
 
|-
| Armour || Heavy armour^^ || Full || Armour || High
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| Sorcery || [[Alchemy]], [[Conjurations]]
 
|-
 
|-
| Jewellery || N/A || Partial || Magic schools and Evocations || Low
 
|-
 
| Jewellery || N/A || Full || Magic schools and Evocations || Medium
 
 
|}
 
|}
  
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Each skill that is boosted is increased by <code>(curses * (4/3) + 1 ) * (piety_rank + 1) * skill_level * 10</code> [[skill#Experience Required|skill points]]<ref>{{source ref|0.30.0|god-passive.cc|769}}</ref>. "Curses" refers to the number of curses in that specific skill.
  
^^ - Armours with an [[encumbrance rating]] from 0-5 count as light, 6-11 count as medium, and 12+ count as heavy. If you are not wearing body armour (perhaps because you cannot), that counts as "light".
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[[Melded]] items won't give their skill bonuses, but will still increase your piety.
  
'''Piety level (***):''' "Seer"
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==Punishments==
* [[See invisible]]
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{{flavour|Ashenzari does not appreciate abandonment, and will call down fearful punishments on disloyal followers!
 
 
'''Piety level (****):''' "Oracle"
 
* [[Clarity]]
 
  
'''Piety level (*****):''' "Illuminatus"
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Those who abandon Ashenzari will immediately have their curses shattered, destroying whichever items they imbued with divine wisdom. Thereafter, Ashenzari's wrath is constant and unrelenting for its duration. Victims will find their skills impaired, and their enemies divinely guided – never losing track of them, never ending the hunt.
* '''Transfer Knowledge:''' Pick a source and destination skill and experience will move from one to the other as you gain more experience, at the cost of some piety and 10% of the exp being transferred. Costs 20-30 piety.
 
  
'''Piety level (******):''' "Omniscient"
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Ashenzari's wrath lasts for a relatively long duration.}}
* No new abilities.
 
  
==Punishments==
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Upon abandoning Ashenzari, all cursed items immediately shatter. Your skills are temporarily halved until you've gained an amount of [[XP]] equivalent to two [[XL|experience levels]].
{{flavour|Ashenzari does not appreciate abandonment, and will call down fearful punishments on disloyal followers!
 
Ashenzari's wrath is not like other gods'; it is constant and unrelenting for its duration. Victims find their skills impaired, and their enemies divinely guided - never losing track of them, never ending the hunt.}}
 
Upon abandoning Ashenzari, you will receive -4 to all skills until you've gained an amount of [[XP]] equivalent to two [[XL|experience levels]].
 
  
 
Additionally, monster AI gets a boost:
 
Additionally, monster AI gets a boost:
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==Strategy==
 
==Strategy==
Ashenzari provides a significant power boost relatively early in the game, soon after the player has managed to become partially bound.  Cursing one's weapon and 2 pieces of jewellery are enough to make piety take off.  As a result of the ensuing skill boosts, melee combat types will be able to go toe-to-toe with much stronger enemies, and casters will see high level spells become castable much more quickly and low level utility spells castable with very little training. Since Ash offers no abilities that fill the escape or combat-support roles often provided by gods, players must take advantage of the skill enhancements and retraining flexibility to fill these roles themselves with the spellbooks and equipment they find.  Changes in overall strategy can be made amazingly quickly, so if a powerful spellbook/evocable/artifact weapon shows up that doesn't fit your current strategy, consider adopting a new one.
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Ashenzari provides a significant power boost throughout the game, as soon as you've gotten a few curses. But since Ash offers no active abilities for combat or escape, players must take advantage of knowledge and skill enhancements to fill these roles themselves.
 
 
A single scroll of remove curse can remove as many curses from your equipment as you'd like; consider saving them for when you want to make multiple equipment changes.
 
  
Scrying is cheap to cast, and is very useful for playstyles that like knowing where out-of-sight enemies are (Stabbers using [[invisibility]] or [[Passwall]] to sneak up on things, [[Earth Elementalist]]s blowing things up through walls with [[Lee's Rapid Deconstruction]] and [[Shatter]], [[Fire Elementalist|Fire]] or [[Ice Elementalist]]s casting area spells to damage unseen opponents).
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Due to how the skill bonuses work, if you have minimal investment in a skill, it'll get almost no boost from cursed equipment. But if you invest just a few levels in said skill, the bonuses will really start to kick in. They'll allow melee combatants to go toe-to-toe with tough enemies; mages will see spells become castable quickly. The divinations Ashenzari's divinations are also helpful: identifying every item is a huge boon for the early game. You'll also get to see enemies before they enter your [[line of sight]], allowing you to avoid encounters more easily.
  
Remember that Ashenzari does not punish uncursing equipment, nor adventuring with uncursed equipment. The tradeoff is merely certain less-boosted or un-boosted skills, and slower piety gain. So if a strategy or dungeon branch requires a swappable slot (e.g. for rings of protection from cold or fire in Depths), go ahead and leave it unbound as needed.
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Early on, equipment and spellbooks should be given special attention. There are two types of items that you would want to curse:
 +
*Common or replaceable items, such as an unbranded [[robe]] or [[plate armour]], or anything you find multiples of. These can allow you to take immediate advantage of Ashenzari's knowledge, even if curses don't give relevant boosts.
 +
*Items that you would want to use for an entire game, such as a well-enchanted [[artefact]] or even just a good [[amulet]]. You can wait until you get especially advantageous curses with your most valuable items.
 +
If a curse doesn't match your [[background]]/gameplan, you can consider changing your character build. A melee fighter with a single Beguiling curse shouldn't think too much about it, but 3 Beguiling curses and a great [[spellbook]] can change your mind. Of course, you can skip ineffective curses, too.
  
Ashenzari worshippers may discover occasional disconnected [[vaults]] (which often contain treasure).  Normally these are only found via [[magic mapping]] or the [[Passive Mapping]] mutation / [[Deep Dwarf]] passive.
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As the extended game has an excess of XP, skill boosts become rather moot. Instead, Ashenzari's divinations become more useful. They are helpful in [[Slime Pits]], [[Hell]], the [[Abyss]], and [[Pandemonium]]. Seeing the map, stairs, and/or exits can help you avoid danger by escaping faster. You can see tiles and walls indicative of a [[vault]] (rune, exit, etc...), giving another speed advantage. If you do decide to abandon Ash, be aware that ''all'' your cursed items will be shattered.
  
Knowledge Transfer lets you make mid or late game shifts with ease. Found an early crystal plate armor as a stabber? Transfer stealth into armor. Found an artefact great mace as a polearm specialist? Transfer weapons! Didn't find any good spells in your starting school, but did find plenty of spells in another? Transfer away. Of course, consider whether switching will actually be a net improvement to your character's build.
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===Tips & Tricks===
 
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*Remember that Ashenzari does not directly punish you for having uncursed equipment. If a strategy or dungeon branch requires a swappable slot (e.g. switching between rings for resistances, or switching between multiple weapons), go ahead and leave that slot unbound as needed. Maximum piety is helpful, but not entirely necessary.
[[Felid]]s can start gaining piety with Ashenzari particularly quickly, as one cursed jewelry item is slightly bound, two is partially bound, and three is fully bound. However, this comes at the cost of losing much of your ability to swap resistances on the fly.
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*The [[Passwall]] spell is particularly useful to those who can see through the walls they wish to traverse.
 +
*Ashenzari worshippers may discover occasional disconnected [[vaults]] that are normally only found via [[magic mapping]] or the [[Passive Mapping]] mutation. A [[wand of digging]], Passwall, or (in extreme cases) [[Shatter]] can get you into such areas.
 +
*Worshippers with equipment restrictions (such as [[Spriggan]]s and [[Oni]]) can gain piety very quickly with Ashenzari, but cannot gain as many skill boosts. [[Felid]]s gain ** of piety per cursed piece of jewellery worn, but they'll receive exceedingly few skill bonuses and lose the ability to swap resistances on the fly.
 +
**Conversely, [[Octopode]]s are somewhat worse with Ash, as they have 11 equipment slots instead of the usual 10.
 +
*An [[amulet of faith]] is entirely useless for followers of Ashenzari, apart from the benefits gained by cursing it.
  
 
==History==
 
==History==
 +
*Prior to [[0.31]], curse groups were different. There was no curse of Sorcery. The curse of Beguiling boosted {Conjurations, Hexes, Translocations}, the curse of Alchemy boosted {Poison Magic, Transmutations}. The curse of Devices was named Evocations, which only boosted that skill. Also, Detect Terrain worked from further away, but it did not fully map out the area near you at 4*.
 +
*Prior to [[0.30]], protection from [[sourceless malevolence]] was available at 1*. Ashenzari had a 4* passive ability, Astral Sight, which would let you see through walls (scry) - up to 4 tiles at max piety. Also, it gave more (<code>(curses * 1.5 + 1) * (piety_rank + 1) * skill_level</code>) skill points by cursing.
 +
*Prior to [[0.29]], Ashenzari did not block [[mutation]]s which would shatter cursed items.
 +
*Prior to [[0.28]], Ashenzari gave more (<code>(curses * 2 + 1) * (piety_rank + 1) * skill_level</code>) skill points by cursing, provided trap avoidance and item identification on worship, and stripped followers of all items (even if uncursed) on abandonment.
 +
*In [[0.27]], Ashenzari and [[curse]]s were reworked. In previous versions, Ashenzari had a regular piety system, boosted drastically by wearing cursed items. Cursed items did not shatter on uncurse, boosted skills directly related to the item in question, scrying was an active ability, and Ashenzari offered the ability to transfer skill points between skills. To see more details on Ashenzari prior to [[0.27]], see [http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Ashenzari&oldid=55043 this revision].
 
*Prior [[0.23]], Ashenzari provided the only source of full monster equipment identification. It also provided a passive boost to finding traps rather than immunity to exploration traps.
 
*Prior [[0.23]], Ashenzari provided the only source of full monster equipment identification. It also provided a passive boost to finding traps rather than immunity to exploration traps.
*Prior to [[0.18]], players would have to pray over scrolls of remove curse to convert them into the now-obsolete scrolls of [[Scroll of curse armour|curse armour]], [[Scroll of curse weapon|curse weapon]], and [[Scroll of curse jewellery|curse jewellery]].
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*Prior to [[0.18]], players would have to pray over [[scrolls of remove curse]] to convert them into the now-obsolete scrolls of [[Scroll of curse armour|curse armour]], [[Scroll of curse weapon|curse weapon]], and [[Scroll of curse jewellery|curse jewellery]].
*Prior to [[0.14]], scrolls of curse item could be randomly generated, but Ashenzari gave fewer of them for sacrificing remove curse.
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*Prior to [[0.14]], scrolls of curse item could be randomly generated, but Ashenzari gave fewer of them for sacrificing scrolls of remove curse.
 
*Prior to [[0.12]], Ashenzari's altars often had an [[artefact]] [[spell book]] next to them with only one spell: [[Animate Skeleton]]. This was to assist in butchering [[corpse]]s while wielding cursed blunt weapons.
 
*Prior to [[0.12]], Ashenzari's altars often had an [[artefact]] [[spell book]] next to them with only one spell: [[Animate Skeleton]]. This was to assist in butchering [[corpse]]s while wielding cursed blunt weapons.
 
*Prior to [[0.9]], worshippers of Ashenzari would receive a bonus to experience gain instead of a boost to skills, and shields were not considered a separate equipment category in regards to being bound.
 
*Prior to [[0.9]], worshippers of Ashenzari would receive a bonus to experience gain instead of a boost to skills, and shields were not considered a separate equipment category in regards to being bound.
*Ashenzari was added in [[0.8]].
+
*Ashenzari was added in [[0.8]], giving players access to abilities from the now-removed [[Divinations]] school of magic.
 +
 
 +
==References==
 +
<references/>
  
 
{{gods}}
 
{{gods}}

Latest revision as of 00:52, 12 March 2024

Version 0.31: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.
Ashenzari altar.png "Partake of my vision. Partake of my curse."
While it seems inconceivable that the divine could be shackled, Ashenzari is just that: bound to the sky for eternity, the unbudging god is all-knowing, all-seeing. Devoted worshippers are allowed to grasp shreds of this knowledge and foresight, but be warned: to Ashenzari, power and blessing and curse are all the same thing.

Ashenzari exhorts followers to curse their possessions, periodically offering these curses to worshipers as they explore. Cursed equipment cannot be enchanted and only be removed by shattering it forever. However, these curses enhance specific skills. They will also please Ashenzari, who will reveal the invisible and grant clarity of mind. The truly devout will gain a fragment of Ashenzari's astral sight, letting them see through walls.

Ashenzari likes it when you bind yourself with curses.

Ashenzari's powers are not affected by Invocations skill.

Racial restrictions

Demigods cannot worship Ashenzari (or any other god).

Appreciates

Ashenzari likes it when you curse your equipment. Curses are offered periodically during exploration (approximately one curse per ordinary Dungeon floor fully explored, if you have no curses pending).

Piety is entirely dependent on how many equipment slots you have bound. For an unmutated human, each cursed item will provide 17 piety. The usual 15 piety gained by worship is negated (so having 1 cursed item is 17 piety, not 17 + 15). Slot limiting effects, such as two-handed weapons, species-specific equipment restrictions, Ru's Sacrifice Hand, or Lear's hauberk are taken into consideration, and give proportionally more piety per curse. Cursed items that are melded due to transformations still contribute to your piety, but do not provide their associated skill boosts.

Deprecates

  • Abandonment.
  • Uncursing items (loss of piety given by the cursed slot; will never cause excommunication)
  • Piety with Ashenzari does not decrease over time.

Given Abilities

Piety level (0): "Cursed"

  • Curse Item: Curse an equipped item, granting you piety and two skill bonuses (see below), but turning the item into an artefact that cannot be altered or removed. Curses are offered periodically as you explore; if you get a new offer but haven't taken the previous one, the new offer will replace the old one.
  • Shatter the Chains: Destroys a cursed item, freeing up that slot but reducing your piety accordingly. Also removes the currently offered curse, if one exists. This does not count as an unequip, so weapons of distortion and artefacts with *Contam or *Drain are safe to curse.
  • Divine Knowledge: All of these abilities are passive. Many of them start with a radius of 0, but their radius and power increase with piety.
    • Detect Monsters: Shows the location and relative strength, but not the type, of monsters beyond your field of vision.
    • Detect Items: Shows the location, but not the type, of items beyond your field of vision.
    • Detect Terrain: Maps random tiles beyond your field of vision, similar to the Passive Mapping mutation. Functions even in the Abyss.
    • Detect Portals: Reveals the location of portals, including in the Abyss. ("You have a vision of a gate.")

Piety level (*): "Initiated"

  • Identify Items: All items you are carrying are immediately identified upon reaching this piety level. Ashenzari will also identify on sight any items you find as you explore, but items you have yet to see will remain unidentified should you lose enough piety or abandon Ashenzari.

Piety level (**): "Soothsayer"

Piety level (***): "Seer"

Piety level (****): "Oracle"

  • Protection from malevolent surprises: Blocks malevolent forces from triggering during exploration.
  • Detect Terrain is upgraded - every tile within a radius of (LOS_range + 1) is mapped.

Piety level (*****): "Illuminatus"

  • No new abilities.

Piety level (******): "Omniscient"

  • No new abilities. Unlike other gods, Ashenzari's piety caps at 170; you must curse every equipment slot possible to achieve this maximum.

Curses

Each curse you make will provide a boost to two distinct groups of skills, then make the item into an unremovable artefact. These groups are listed as follows:

Group Boosted skills
Beguiling Hexes, Translocations
Companions Summonings, Necromancy
Cunning Dodging, Stealth
Devices Evocations, Shapeshifting
Elements Fire Magic, Ice Magic, Air Magic, Earth Magic
Fortitude Armour, Shields
Introspection Fighting, Spellcasting
Melee Combat All melee weapon skills, including Unarmed Combat
Ranged Combat Ranged Weapons, Throwing
Sorcery Alchemy, Conjurations

Each skill that is boosted is increased by (curses * (4/3) + 1 ) * (piety_rank + 1) * skill_level * 10 skill points[1]. "Curses" refers to the number of curses in that specific skill.

Melded items won't give their skill bonuses, but will still increase your piety.

Punishments

Ashenzari does not appreciate abandonment, and will call down fearful punishments on disloyal followers!

Those who abandon Ashenzari will immediately have their curses shattered, destroying whichever items they imbued with divine wisdom. Thereafter, Ashenzari's wrath is constant and unrelenting for its duration. Victims will find their skills impaired, and their enemies divinely guided – never losing track of them, never ending the hunt.

Ashenzari's wrath lasts for a relatively long duration.

Upon abandoning Ashenzari, all cursed items immediately shatter. Your skills are temporarily halved until you've gained an amount of XP equivalent to two experience levels.

Additionally, monster AI gets a boost:

  • They track you better.
  • They never forget about you.
  • They are more likely to know your position while you are invisible.

Strategy

Ashenzari provides a significant power boost throughout the game, as soon as you've gotten a few curses. But since Ash offers no active abilities for combat or escape, players must take advantage of knowledge and skill enhancements to fill these roles themselves.

Due to how the skill bonuses work, if you have minimal investment in a skill, it'll get almost no boost from cursed equipment. But if you invest just a few levels in said skill, the bonuses will really start to kick in. They'll allow melee combatants to go toe-to-toe with tough enemies; mages will see spells become castable quickly. The divinations Ashenzari's divinations are also helpful: identifying every item is a huge boon for the early game. You'll also get to see enemies before they enter your line of sight, allowing you to avoid encounters more easily.

Early on, equipment and spellbooks should be given special attention. There are two types of items that you would want to curse:

  • Common or replaceable items, such as an unbranded robe or plate armour, or anything you find multiples of. These can allow you to take immediate advantage of Ashenzari's knowledge, even if curses don't give relevant boosts.
  • Items that you would want to use for an entire game, such as a well-enchanted artefact or even just a good amulet. You can wait until you get especially advantageous curses with your most valuable items.

If a curse doesn't match your background/gameplan, you can consider changing your character build. A melee fighter with a single Beguiling curse shouldn't think too much about it, but 3 Beguiling curses and a great spellbook can change your mind. Of course, you can skip ineffective curses, too.

As the extended game has an excess of XP, skill boosts become rather moot. Instead, Ashenzari's divinations become more useful. They are helpful in Slime Pits, Hell, the Abyss, and Pandemonium. Seeing the map, stairs, and/or exits can help you avoid danger by escaping faster. You can see tiles and walls indicative of a vault (rune, exit, etc...), giving another speed advantage. If you do decide to abandon Ash, be aware that all your cursed items will be shattered.

Tips & Tricks

  • Remember that Ashenzari does not directly punish you for having uncursed equipment. If a strategy or dungeon branch requires a swappable slot (e.g. switching between rings for resistances, or switching between multiple weapons), go ahead and leave that slot unbound as needed. Maximum piety is helpful, but not entirely necessary.
  • The Passwall spell is particularly useful to those who can see through the walls they wish to traverse.
  • Ashenzari worshippers may discover occasional disconnected vaults that are normally only found via magic mapping or the Passive Mapping mutation. A wand of digging, Passwall, or (in extreme cases) Shatter can get you into such areas.
  • Worshippers with equipment restrictions (such as Spriggans and Oni) can gain piety very quickly with Ashenzari, but cannot gain as many skill boosts. Felids gain ** of piety per cursed piece of jewellery worn, but they'll receive exceedingly few skill bonuses and lose the ability to swap resistances on the fly.
    • Conversely, Octopodes are somewhat worse with Ash, as they have 11 equipment slots instead of the usual 10.
  • An amulet of faith is entirely useless for followers of Ashenzari, apart from the benefits gained by cursing it.

History

  • Prior to 0.31, curse groups were different. There was no curse of Sorcery. The curse of Beguiling boosted {Conjurations, Hexes, Translocations}, the curse of Alchemy boosted {Poison Magic, Transmutations}. The curse of Devices was named Evocations, which only boosted that skill. Also, Detect Terrain worked from further away, but it did not fully map out the area near you at 4*.
  • Prior to 0.30, protection from sourceless malevolence was available at 1*. Ashenzari had a 4* passive ability, Astral Sight, which would let you see through walls (scry) - up to 4 tiles at max piety. Also, it gave more ((curses * 1.5 + 1) * (piety_rank + 1) * skill_level) skill points by cursing.
  • Prior to 0.29, Ashenzari did not block mutations which would shatter cursed items.
  • Prior to 0.28, Ashenzari gave more ((curses * 2 + 1) * (piety_rank + 1) * skill_level) skill points by cursing, provided trap avoidance and item identification on worship, and stripped followers of all items (even if uncursed) on abandonment.
  • In 0.27, Ashenzari and curses were reworked. In previous versions, Ashenzari had a regular piety system, boosted drastically by wearing cursed items. Cursed items did not shatter on uncurse, boosted skills directly related to the item in question, scrying was an active ability, and Ashenzari offered the ability to transfer skill points between skills. To see more details on Ashenzari prior to 0.27, see this revision.
  • Prior 0.23, Ashenzari provided the only source of full monster equipment identification. It also provided a passive boost to finding traps rather than immunity to exploration traps.
  • Prior to 0.18, players would have to pray over scrolls of remove curse to convert them into the now-obsolete scrolls of curse armour, curse weapon, and curse jewellery.
  • Prior to 0.14, scrolls of curse item could be randomly generated, but Ashenzari gave fewer of them for sacrificing scrolls of remove curse.
  • Prior to 0.12, Ashenzari's altars often had an artefact spell book next to them with only one spell: Animate Skeleton. This was to assist in butchering corpses while wielding cursed blunt weapons.
  • Prior to 0.9, worshippers of Ashenzari would receive a bonus to experience gain instead of a boost to skills, and shields were not considered a separate equipment category in regards to being bound.
  • Ashenzari was added in 0.8, giving players access to abilities from the now-removed Divinations school of magic.

References

Gods
Good ElyvilonZinThe Shining One
Neutral AshenzariCheibriadosFedhas MadashGozag Ym SagozHepliaklqanaIgnisNemelex XobehOkawaruQazlalRuSif MunaTrogUskayawVehumetWu Jian
Chaotic JiyvaXom
Evil BeoghDithmenosKikubaaqudghaLugonu *Makhleb *Yredelemnul
* Chaotic & Evil