Hat of Pondering

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

The favourite hat of the slug wizard Gastronok, stained with reddish slime and enchanted to aid in his arcane pondering. It has been specially enchanted to protect against the desiccating effects of salt.

the +3 hat of Pondering

+3 hat

Ponderousness ego
+40 Willpower (Will+)
+5 Intelligence
+10 MP

Desirability

The hat of Pondering provides great bonuses to spellcasting, and a useful will bonus on top. However, the movement penalty can be dangerous - it makes retreat more difficult. Luckily, this hat is most beneficial to those who are likely to have the means to speed themselves up, i.e. mages with spells like Swiftness or Blink. It may also be useful to followers of Cheibriados, who are already slow and gain a piety advantage by being even slower.

Characters which are faster or slower than usual have unique interactions with the Hat of Pondering:

• As mentioned above, Cheibriados worshippers, Barachim, and Nagas are already slower than usual; they don't mind being slower (as much).
• Flying Tengu have an inherent speed bonus, which cancels out the hat. Having faster-than-normal speed will prevent attacks of opportunity, allowing you to retreat from 10 ("normal") speed enemies. So, while a Tengu mage may prefer the increased magical capabilities from this hat, it comes at a notable downside.
  • Similarly, Armataurs wearing the lightning scales move fast; having ponderousness puts them back at normal speed.
• Spriggans can still outrun normal-speed monsters - but they lose the ability to run a hasted normal-speed monster. Also, they become slower than a few specific enemies (such as juggernauts, the Royal Jelly, and orbs of fire).

True to its lore, the hat of Pondering is sometimes found on Gastronok (10% chance).