Scroll of summoning

Version 0.29: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Type	Scroll
Name	Scroll of summoning
Icon

A scroll that calls forth several creatures woven from shadow into the shapes of those beings found within the reader's immediate vicinity.

Reading a scroll of summoning will instantly summon a collection of allied monsters appropriate to the floor you are currently on, creating 2d2 monsters with a long duration, similar to the monster-only Shadow Creatures spell. These reinforcements can significantly vary in quality, but the scroll is capable of bringing a large amount of support to bear instantly at no cost beyond the scroll itself.

Note that "bands" (like a pack of yaks) count as 1 monster for this scroll's purposes.

Sample Results

• In the Dungeon, results can be extremely varied due to the very broad range of possible monsters you can encounter. For example, on D:12 it might produce a band of ogres, including an ogre mage... or it might produce a howler monkey.
• In The Lair, this can produce anything from a water moccasin to a herd of death yaks.
• In the Orcish Mines, it usually produces a group of orcs, possibly including warriors, priests, and sorcerers. trolls and ogres are possible, though.
• In the Swamp, it usually spawns fast, melee, watery creatures like a hydra or bunyip.
• In the Snake Pit, it often summons a pack of nagas, which can include magi and warriors, or a water moccasin, black mamba, or anaconda.
• In the Vaults, it produces various vault personnel, as well as packs of very ugly things, deep trolls, etc.
• In the Realm of Zot, it tends to summon dragons, electric golems, "friendly" moths of wrath, entire bands of draconians, and even the occasional orb of fire. It is absurdly powerful in Zot, though summons will only last a few turns, and moths of wrath can make your situation worse.
  • Be aware that moths of wrath will often berserk the hostile natives, which can lead to a nasty death for the unwary.
• It is much less useful in places that have weak "random encounters" but very strong special encounters, such as the Tomb and the last level of the Vaults.

Strategy

• These scrolls are quite rare. Given the manner in which the summoned monsters scale with the player's current branch from where the scroll is read, its desirability remains fairly consistent throughout the game.
• The scroll can be particularly useful when fighting The Royal Jelly, especially if you are reading more than one. Surrounding it with summons generated by this scroll will force any additional jellies created by damaging TRJ to spawn on the outskirts of your army, giving you a temporary, albeit reasonable buffer to finish it off.
• Sufficiently intelligent monsters carrying this scroll can read it and use it against you. As with all summons, killing the reader will dispatch the summons instantly.
• The combo of this scroll and a scroll of immolation is good for killing uniques and dangerous monsters, especially if you meet them in an open area. Summon allies, allow them to surround your target, and then read a scroll of immolation.

History

• Scrolls of summoning were useless in the Labyrinth, which was removed in 0.23.
• This current iteration of the scroll of summoning was added in 0.12.
• Prior to 0.11, there was a different item called a scroll of summoning that would create a small abomination for you. It was renamed to a scroll of unholy creation in 0.11, and was removed entirely in 0.12.