Difference between revisions of "Ashenzari"

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{{version023}}
 
[[File:Ashenzari altar.png]] ''"Partake of my vision. Partake of my curse."''
 
[[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.
  
'''Ashenzari the Shackled''' is a cursed god of divinations. While it seems inconceivable that the divine could be shackled, Ashenzari is just that: being purposely nailed 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, 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.
  
No backgrounds start with this religion.
+
Ashenzari likes it when you explore the world (preferably while bound by curses).  
 +
 
 +
Ashenzari's powers are based on piety instead of Invocations skill.}}
  
 
==Racial restrictions==
 
==Racial restrictions==
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Ashenzari likes it when you explore the world (preferably while using cursed gear).
 
Ashenzari likes it when you explore the world (preferably while using cursed gear).
  
You have four equipment categories: armour, weapon, shield and jewellery. A category is considered "partially bound" if at least half of its slots in use are cursed, and "fully bound" if all slots in use are cursed. The more bound you are, the faster you'll acquire piety, and the more powerful several of Ashenzari's gifts will be.
+
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.
 +
 
 +
For piety gain, [[felid]]s simply count cursed jewellery, with an additional bonus if all jewellery is cursed.
  
 
==Deprecates==
 
==Deprecates==
* Abandoning him.
+
* Abandonment.
 
* Inactivity (loses about 1 [[Piety]] every 500 turns).
 
* Inactivity (loses about 1 [[Piety]] every 500 turns).
  
 
==Given Abilities==
 
==Given Abilities==
 
'''Piety level (0):''' "Cursed"
 
'''Piety level (0):''' "Cursed"
*The four curse-related scrolls are immediately identified upon converting to Ashenzari.
+
*[[Scrolls of remove curse]] are immediately identified upon converting to Ashenzari.
*'''Sacrifice [[scrolls of remove curse]]:''' [[Praying]] over any stash that contains scrolls of remove curse will randomly change each scroll of remove curse into a [[scroll of curse armour]], [[scroll of curse weapon]], or [[scroll of curse jewellery]].
+
*'''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.
*'''Improved behavior of curse-related scrolls:''' Ashenzari worshipers 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). When reading curse armour/curse jewellery, they may choose which item to curse (instead of it being random as usual). Also, any weapons, armour, or jewelry you receive through a [[scroll of acquirement]] will be pre-cursed. (Passive)
+
*'''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)
*'''Prevent Curses:''' Prevents external item cursing from [[death curse]]s and [[miscast]] effects. Ashenzari also prevents the curse removal effect of [[scrolls of enchant weapon]] or [[scroll of enchant armour|enchant armour]] (The item will still get better though). (Passive)
+
*'''Prevent Curses:''' Prevents external item cursing from [[death curse]]s and [[miscast]] effects. (Passive)
 
''The Detect Foo abilities start with a radius of 0, but their radius and power increases with piety.''
 
''The Detect Foo abilities start with a radius of 0, but their radius and power increases with piety.''
 
*'''Detect Curses:''' All items in sight will display as Cursed or Uncursed. (Passive)
 
*'''Detect Curses:''' All items in sight will display as Cursed or Uncursed. (Passive)
 
*'''Detect Items:''' Shows the location, but not the type, of items beyond your field of vision. (Passive)
 
*'''Detect Items:''' Shows the location, but not the type, of items beyond your field of vision. (Passive)
*'''Detect Traps:''' Grants a bonus to [[Traps]] which increases with piety. (Passive)
+
*'''Detect Traps:''' Provides immunity to traps triggered by exploration. (Passive)
 
*'''Detect Monsters:''' Shows the location and relative strength, but not the type, of monsters beyond your field of vision. (Passive)
 
*'''Detect Monsters:''' Shows the location and relative strength, but not the type, of monsters beyond your field of vision. (Passive)
*'''Detect Terrain:''' Maps random tiles beyond your field of vision, similar to the [[deep dwarf]] [[mutation]]. It works in [[Labyrinth]]s and [[the Abyss]]. (Passive)
+
*'''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)
 
*'''Portal Detection:''' Instant detection of portals, including in the Abyss ("You have a vision of a gate."). (Passive)
*'''Partial Identify:''' Picking up [[ego]] items identifies them as well as if you had wielded or worn them. Self-identifying rings are identified once picked up. (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)
* '''Identify Monsters' Equipment:''' You can sometimes identify the brands of weapons and armour on monsters in your field of vision (chance increases with your number of bound parts, up to a max of 100%). It can also detect the presence and type of wands.
 
  
 
'''Piety level (*):''' "Initiated"
 
'''Piety level (*):''' "Initiated"
*'''Partial Identify:''' Wearing a piece of cursed armour lets you see the enchantment level of other armour of that type. (Passive)
+
*'''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.
 
 
'''Piety level (**):''' "Seer"
 
*'''Partial Identify:''' Wearing a cursed amulet lets you identify amulets. Wearing two cursed rings lets you identify rings. (passive)
 
*'''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 available, earned by having higher piety and more bound slots, but the higher your actual skill levels become, the smaller the bonuses are. Regardless, skills at level 0 will ''not'' receive any bonus.
 
  
The exact formula is: min(piety_rank, bondage_level + 2) * factor - skill_level / 4
+
'''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 **.
  
Factor = 1 for a low level of bonus, 1.25 for a medium, and 1.5 for high)
+
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).
  
 
{| cellpadding="5" border="1"
 
{| cellpadding="5" border="1"
Line 51: Line 53:
 
| Weapon hand || Weapon || N/A || Weapon skill || Medium
 
| Weapon hand || Weapon || N/A || Weapon skill || Medium
 
|-
 
|-
| Weapon hand|| [[Magical_staff#Enhancer_Staves | Enhancer staff]]^ || N/A || Staves and Evocations || Low
+
| Weapon hand || [[Magical_staff#Enhancer_Staves | Enhancer staff]] || N/A || Staves and Evocations || Low
 
|-
 
|-
 +
| Weapon hand || [[Magical_staff#Other_Staves | Evokable staff]] || N/A || Evocations || Medium
 +
|-
 
| Weapon hand || [[Magical_staff#Other_Staves| Other staff]] || N/A || Spellcasting || Medium
 
| Weapon hand || [[Magical_staff#Other_Staves| Other staff]] || N/A || Spellcasting || Medium
|-
 
| Weapon hand || Rod || N/A || Evocation || Medium
 
 
|-
 
|-
 
| Shield hand || Shield || N/A || Shields || Low
 
| Shield hand || Shield || N/A || Shields || Low
 
|-
 
|-
| Armour || Light armour || Partial || Stealth and Dodging || Low
+
| Armour || Light armour^^ || Partial || Stealth and Dodging || Low
 
|-
 
|-
| Armour || Light armour || Full || Stealth and Dodging || Medium
+
| Armour || Light armour^^ || Full || Stealth and Dodging || Medium
 
|-
 
|-
 
| Armour || Medium armour^^ || Partial || Armour and Dodging || Low
 
| Armour || Medium armour^^ || Partial || Armour and Dodging || Low
Line 67: Line 69:
 
| Armour || Medium armour^^ || Full || Armour and Dodging || Medium
 
| Armour || Medium armour^^ || Full || Armour and Dodging || Medium
 
|-
 
|-
| Armour || Heavy armour || Partial || Armour || Medium
+
| Armour || Heavy armour^^ || Partial || Armour || Medium
 
|-
 
|-
| Armour || Heavy armour || Full || Armour || High
+
| Armour || Heavy armour^^ || Full || Armour || High
 
|-
 
|-
 
| Jewellery || N/A || Partial || Magic schools and Evocations || Low
 
| Jewellery || N/A || Partial || Magic schools and Evocations || Low
Line 77: Line 79:
  
  
^ - The staff of channeling is treated like an enhancer staff (since it can be evoked).
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^^ - 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".
  
^^ - Medium armours are ones with an EVP of 2 or 3.
+
'''Piety level (***):''' "Seer"
 
+
* [[See invisible]]
'''Piety level (***):''' "Soothsayer"
 
* [[See Invisible]] and [[Clarity]]
 
  
 
'''Piety level (****):''' "Oracle"
 
'''Piety level (****):''' "Oracle"
* '''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.
+
* [[Clarity]]
  
 
'''Piety level (*****):''' "Illuminatus"
 
'''Piety level (*****):''' "Illuminatus"
* '''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.
+
* '''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. This ability is not available for [[gnoll]]s.
  
 
'''Piety level (******):''' "Omniscient"
 
'''Piety level (******):''' "Omniscient"
Line 94: Line 94:
  
 
==Punishments==
 
==Punishments==
You will receive -4 to all skills until you've gained an amount of [[xp]] equivalent to two 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]].
  
Monster AI gets a boost:
+
Additionally, monster AI gets a boost:
 
*They track you better.
 
*They track you better.
 
*They never forget about you.
 
*They never forget about you.
*They are likely to know your position while you are invisible.
+
*They are more likely to know your position while you are invisible.
  
 
==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 jewelry are enough to make piety take off.  As a result of the ensuing skill boosts, combat types will be able to go toe-to-toe with much harder enemies, and casters will see high level spells become castable much more quickly.  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.
+
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.
  
Save some [[Scrolls of remove curse]] for equipment changes.  Ash changes their behavior so that instead of removing all curses from worn equipment, they only remove the curses you select.  Save up equipment changes to execute several at once. Buy curse scrolls from shops!
+
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 storm spells to damage unseen opponents).
+
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).
  
Remember that Ashenzari does not punish decursing 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 (eg amulets of resist mutation and corrosion in Slime Pits), go ahead and leave it unbound as needed.
+
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.
  
You will inevitably accumulate [[Scroll of identify|Scrolls of identify]] since you won't have many things to cast it onThis makes magical decks more accessible, since you can afford to re-identify them after every draw to know the top card.  A deck must be wielded to be evoked, which requires an unbound weapon slot, however this can be used to safely spam decks for certain cards, or set up a single escape card that takes a couple turns to pull off.
+
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.
  
Ashenzari is a great god for [[Pandemonium]] [[scumming]] and [[Ziggurat]] raiding. By that point you will likely have the best gear, so permanently cursing yourself is fine. Piety gain is extremely quick in the Abyss, so you can transfer XP constantly while there (as you will be frequently, between Pan trips). Instant Zig portal detection upon entering Pan levels saves much frustration. Free IDing for everything you find in there certainly helps too.
+
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.
  
[[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.
+
[[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.
  
 
==History==
 
==History==
Prior to [[0.12]], some Ashenzari's altars had an artifact spellbook next to it with only one spell: [[Animate Skeleton]].
+
*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]].
Prior to [[0.9]], worshipers 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 [[0.14]], scrolls of curse item could be randomly generated, but Ashenzari gave fewer of them for sacrificing 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 [[0.9]], 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]].
  
[[Category:Gods]]
+
{{gods}}

Revision as of 09:20, 10 July 2020

Version 0.23: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.
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 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.

Ashenzari likes it when you explore the world (preferably while bound by curses).

Ashenzari's powers are based on piety instead of Invocations skill.

Racial restrictions

Demigods cannot worship Ashenzari (or any other god).

Appreciates

Ashenzari likes it when you explore the world (preferably while using cursed gear).

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.

For piety gain, felids simply count cursed jewellery, with an additional bonus if all jewellery is cursed.

Deprecates

  • Abandonment.
  • Inactivity (loses about 1 Piety every 500 turns).

Given Abilities

Piety level (0): "Cursed"

  • Scrolls of remove curse are immediately identified upon converting to Ashenzari.
  • 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.
  • 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)
  • Prevent Curses: Prevents external item cursing from death curses and miscast effects. (Passive)

The Detect Foo abilities start with a radius of 0, but their radius and power increases with piety.

  • Detect Curses: All items in sight will display as Cursed or Uncursed. (Passive)
  • Detect Items: Shows the location, but not the type, of items beyond your field of vision. (Passive)
  • Detect Traps: Provides immunity to traps triggered by exploration. (Passive)
  • Detect Monsters: Shows the location and relative strength, but not the type, of monsters beyond your field of vision. (Passive)
  • Detect Terrain: Maps random tiles beyond your field of vision, similar to the deep dwarf mutation. It works in Labyrinths 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"

  • 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.

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 **.

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).

Bound part Equipment Bound level Boosted skills Bonus
Hands Two-handed weapon N/A Weapon skill High
Weapon hand Weapon N/A Weapon skill Medium
Weapon hand Enhancer staff N/A Staves and Evocations Low
Weapon hand Evokable staff N/A Evocations Medium
Weapon hand Other staff N/A Spellcasting Medium
Shield hand Shield N/A Shields Low
Armour Light armour^^ Partial Stealth and Dodging Low
Armour Light armour^^ Full Stealth and Dodging Medium
Armour Medium armour^^ Partial Armour and Dodging Low
Armour Medium armour^^ Full Armour and Dodging Medium
Armour Heavy armour^^ Partial Armour Medium
Armour Heavy armour^^ Full Armour High
Jewellery N/A Partial Magic schools and Evocations Low
Jewellery N/A Full Magic schools and Evocations Medium


^^ - 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".

Piety level (***): "Seer"

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

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

  • 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. This ability is not available for gnolls.

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

  • No new abilities.

Punishments

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 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 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.

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 Elementalists blowing things up through walls with Lee's Rapid Deconstruction and Shatter, Fire or Ice Elementalists casting area spells to damage unseen opponents).

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.

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.

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.

Felids 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.

History

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