Scroll

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

A disposable arcane formula inscribed on parchment by a professional scribe or sorcerer. Anyone can evoke the power of the arcane formula by reading it out loud, but the nature of that power is not a priori apparent.

Scrolls are consumable items which, when read (command r), provide a wide variety of magical effects. They can be found as randomly generated loot or bought in certain shops. Unidentified scrolls will have gibberish names until you've identified them, either by reading them or through use of a scroll of identify. These names are randomly generated each game, and provide no clues as to the scroll's effect.

Every character is able to read by default. However, the following status effects disable scroll-reading entirely:

• Brainless
• Berserk
• Confusion
• Silence
• Engulf (unless you are undead or nonliving)
• Certain bad forms
• The -Scroll status (inflicted by the No Unsafe Scrolls mutation when damaged, and while in Gehenna)

Reading an unidentified scroll will destroy it, except for the scroll of acquirement (which always persists). However, if you read an identified scroll that requires a decision, you can safely change your mind by pressing Escape and without spending any time doing so.

Scrolls are always read at the start of your turn. Usually, it takes 1.0 turn to "read" a scroll. In this case, the scroll effects happen first, immediately, and then you spend the rest of the 1.0 turn doing nothing.

Monsters cannot read scrolls.

List of Scrolls

Tile	Scroll of ...	Rarity	Description
	acquirement	Very Rare	Gives a choice of three items to acquire tailored to your skills, or a pile of gold.
	amnesia	Uncommon	Allows you to forget a spell, freeing up spell levels.
	blinking	Uncommon	Blinks you to an empty space within line of sight, with complete control.
	brand weapon	Rare	Applies a random brand to a chosen non-artefact weapon.
	butterflies	Uncommon	Fills the area around you with friendly butterflies, blowing other creatures away to make space. In a given game, this scroll is mutually exclusive with the scroll of summoning.
	enchant armour	Uncommon	Adds +1 to the enchantment of a chosen non-artefact armour piece or shield.
	enchant weapon	Uncommon	Adds +1 to the enchantment of a chosen non-artefact weapon.
	fear	Uncommon	Attempts to cause fear in all enemies within line of sight, with a willpower check, causing them to run away if successful.
	fog	Uncommon	Creates spreading fog to reduce line of sight.
	identify	Very Common	Identifies one type of unknown potion or scroll.
	immolation	Uncommon	Applies inner flame to all creatures in line of sight, causing a fiery explosion on their death.
	noise	Uncommon	Makes a loud noise.
	poison	Rare	Fills every unoccupied space within your line of sight with a poisonous cloud.
	revelation	Uncommon	Maps the current floor. Provides the ability to see through walls and see invisible for 1 turn.
	silence	Rare	Creates an aura of silence, preventing the use of spells and divine abilities, and the reading of scrolls.
	summoning	Uncommon	Summons creatures that would normally appear as enemies on the current floor—equivalent to a few casts of the enemy spell Shadow Creatures. In a given game, this scroll is mutually exclusive with the scroll of butterflies.
	teleportation	Common	Teleports you to a random location on the current level after 3–5 turns, or cancels a current teleport if the player is currently being teleported.
	torment	Rare	Torments all creatures within line of sight, including the user.
	vulnerability	Uncommon	Halves the willpower of all creatures within line of sight, including the user.

Rarity

Rarity per individual scroll, rounded to the nearest tenth.

• Very Common: 26.1%
• Common: 13.1%
• Uncommon: 4.7%
• Rare: 2.0%
• Very Rare: 1.2%

See Also

• Potion

History

• Prior to 0.31, monsters could read scrolls (at the time of this change, the only scroll monsters could read were scrolls of summoning).
• In 0.28, scroll rarities were made more consistent. Prior to this version, being brainless only imposed an 80% fail rate to read scrolls (in order to allow removing curse).
• Prior to 0.27, the Blurry Vision mutation existed; it slowed your reading of scrolls, causing them to take effect later.
• Prior to 0.16, the Blurry Vision mutation imposed a flat failure rate upon attempting to read a scroll that increased per rank.
• Prior to 0.15, any time you suffered fire or hellfire damage, there was a chance your scrolls would be subject to item destruction. The conservation ego reduced the chance of this happening, as did having a high AC.
• Prior to 0.14, reading scrolls at inappropriate times (a scroll of remove curse when you have no cursed items equipped, for example) would waste the scroll without actually identifying it.
• Prior to 0.10, reading scrolls was the only way for a character without magical abilities to gain access to them, allowing you to train Spellcasting.

Obsolete Scrolls

• Scroll of magic mapping - Changed to scroll of revelation in 0.31
• Scroll of holy word - Removed in 0.29, replaced with the scroll of poison.
• Scroll of remove curse - Removed in 0.27 with the removal of all non-Ashenzari item curses
• Scroll of random uselessness - Removed in 0.27.
• Scroll of recharging - Removed in 0.21 when wand mechanics were overhauled.
• Scroll of curse armour, scroll of curse jewellery, scroll of curse weapon - Removed in 0.18 when Ashenzari began granting the ability to curse items directly
• Scroll of enchant weapon I/II/III - These were merged into the scroll of enchant weapon in 0.15.
• Scroll of vorpalise weapon - Changed to scroll of brand weapon in 0.13.
• Scroll of unholy creation - This briefly replaced the scroll of summoning in 0.11.
• Scroll of detect curse - Removed in 0.11.
• Scroll of paper - Removed in 0.7.
  • Scroll of old paper - Technically never existed in a stable game version, but would replace scrolls of paper if an old game was transferred to a new version.