Malign Gateway

Version 0.31: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

Malign Gateway
Level	7
School1	Summoning
School2	Translocation
Source(s)	Grand Grimoire
Casting noise	6
Spell noise	0
Power Cap	200
Flags	Chaotic, Unholy

Tears a gash in reality, creating a self-sustained but temporary portal to an unknown, tainted otherworld. It requires open space to succeed. After a short time, a powerful clawed tentacle will reach through the portal, remaining bound to the caster's will for a duration depending on power. With the portal's expiry, the tentacle will be severed and turn on the caster. The duration of the portal increases with spell power.

Malign Gateway is a level 7 Summoning/Translocation spell which summons a portal through which an eldritch tentacle emerges.

Useful Info

Opens up a gateway. After 1d2 turns, an eldritch tentacle emerges. The gateway spawns in a random location in LOS that's 1. on floor or shallow water and 2. not adjacent to any walls. The tentacle can extend up to 4 tiles from the gateway.

Higher spell power makes the tentacle remain friendly longer. The tentacle stays friendly for (1d<power> + 5d(<power> + 1)) / 6 - 1d4 turns, or until the gateway is closed and tentacle severed. There is a small chance that a tentacle will grow enraged (hostile to the player) after a portion of its duration has been expired.

The portal itself closes after a while, severing the tentacle. A severed tentacle is neutral, and may harm adjacent creatures (including the player) while it thrashes and eventually dies.

There can only be one such portal open at a time. This means that if you cast the spell, enemies who know the spell will be unable to cast it until yours closes (and vice versa). Similarly, if there's a portal opened by a Zot trap, you are unable to cast this spell.

Eldritch tentacles are not summons. They cannot be abjured or affected by Yara's Violent Unravelling, and will not disappear if you leave the floor. Like summons, tentacles can only attack enemies while they are inside your line of sight.

Strategy

Eldritch tentacles are durable, powerful, fast, and capable of hitting the average monster for up to 70 HP of chaotic damage per attack, inflicting all manner of extra effects. Enemies may be hasted or berserked, but the tentacle will often manage, anyway.

Tentacles come with just about every resistance in the book. This makes Malign Gateway a way to take out orbs of fire; an OOF can't do anything to a tentacle.

Tips & Tricks

• Although extremely powerful, the tentacle is not summoned instantaneously. Up to 2 turns will pass before the tentacle emerges from the portal, so plan accordingly.
• The portal can open in any suitable location in your line of sight. Try casting the spell in such places where the portal can only appear between you and your enemies.
• The spell requires an open area to cast. An attempt to cast in a narrow corridor will fail, but it won't waste a turn.
• It is recommended to not actively remain close to the end of the tentacle as this spell’s duration ticks, as an enraged tentacle is extremely dangerous, inflicting multiple high damage chaos-branded attacks every turn.

History

• In 0.31, the effects of the chaos brand were changed, thus changing the effectiveness of the eldritch tentacle.
• Prior to 0.30, casting Malign Gateway wasn't very loud (casting noise of 6).
• Prior to 0.28, you could enter into the portal of an empty Malign Gateway to blink and take minor damage.
• Prior to 0.25, the tentacle could attack outside of the player's line of sight. Also, it arrived later after the gateway was opened: it required 2-4 turns instead of 1-2 turns.
• Prior to 0.17, casting this spell had a 20% chance of causing 1d3 points of temporary Intelligence damage.
• Malign Gateway was added in 0.8.