Spellforged Servitor

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

This page covers the spell. For the summoned construct, see Spellforged servitor (monster).

Spellforged Servitor
Level	7
School1	Conjuration
School2	Summoning
Source(s)	Book of Dangerous Friends Book of Power
Casting noise	6
Spell noise	0
Power Cap	200

Summons an extraplanar elemental and binds it to a durable shell forged from the caster's own magic. The servitor is capable of unleashing some of the destructive spells known to its creator, though the strongest and most volatile of magics cannot be imbued in this fashion. The strength of the servitor increases with spell power. “When you think Your toys have gone berserk It's an illusion You cannot shirk” -Siouxsie and the Banshees, “Spellbound”

Spellforged Servitor is a level 7 Conjurations/Summonings spell which calls a spellforged servitor into existence. This is a fairly durable, omni-resistant construct which knows one destructive spell from your own list of known spells.

Useful Info

One spellforged servitor is summoned.

It will know the first among the following spells that you have memorized and can cast with a failure rate less than 20%:

• Lehudib's Crystal Spear
• Orb of Destruction
• Bombard
• Plasma Beam
• Fireball
• Arcjolt
• Stone Arrow
• Lee's Rapid Deconstruction
• Airstrike
• Irradiate
• Conjure Ball Lightning
• Freezing Cloud
• Mephitic Cloud

The current spell choice is displayed in the full spell description for Spellforged Servitor.

Spell power determines how strong the spellforged servitor's spells are. It does not influence servitor HP or its duration.

• Servitors have a hit dice of 7 + pow/14; this determines the strength of a servitor's spells.
• Servitors have HP equal to 60 + 7d5 (67 - 95).
• Duration of the summons is around 36 turns, it does not depend on the spell power.

There is a summon limit of 1; casting the spell again will cause the old summon to very quickly time out.

Unlike most other summons, spellforged servitors won't vanish or become hostile if you attack them.

Strategy

An excellent, MP-efficient spell for an otherwise Conjurations-focused caster. Spellforged Servitor offers all the benefits of a summon (MP efficiency, blocks enemy line of fire, takes hits for you), and it's a great spell for combat too. It can cast Iron Shot or Lehudib's Crystal Spear multiple times for only 7 MP. Since its offenses are based on the spells you know, a summoner won't benefit as much from this spell. However, it's easy to pick up a spell like Stone Arrow, which gives a 3d20 or so attack from the get go. Plus, summoners can always appreciate an extra ally.

As a summon, servitors have moderate durability and great resistances. A lucky servitor with a solid spell can beat orbs of fire in a straight fight (while blocking malmutates).

A notable downside is that you can get hit by the servitor. If a monster is between you and the servitor, it can miss the monster and end up hitting you.

Spells

Spells that are good with Spellforged Servitor:

• Earth Magic: Bombard and LCS both work well, simple and strong spells. Even Stone Arrow is a good option, since monsters will cast Stone Arrow much stronger than you can.
• Plasma Beam: Like Earth Magic, with better range, though it can be resisted.

Spells that you should avoid with Spellforged Servitor:

• Conjure Ball Lightning: It's even more dangerous in a servitor's hands than in yours.
• Orb of Destruction: Monster AI isn't the best at firing OODs; it often misses. Worst case scenario, orbs can end up hitting you.

The servitor's stats depends on your abilities at time of cast. You can use wizardry or intelligence to decrease a spell's failure rate, then swap back after summoning.

Tips & Tricks

• Servitors cast slowly. Every ~2 turns, it has a 75% chance to cast a spell (if it doesn't have to move to get in range). Don't rely on the servitor casting a spell to survive a sketchy situation.
• Your servitor won't disappear or become hostile you if you harm it. So feel free to sling a Fireball or Fire Storm right on top of your servitor. At worst, you kill it.
• Servitors can't see invisible. A friendly servitor can hit you if you're invisible and there's a monster in the path. It won't work against invisible monsters.

Monster Version

Spellforged Servitors summoned by monsters will know all of the caster's destructive spells.

The following enemies cast Spellforged Servitor:

• @ Frederick

Frederick's spellforged servitor will know Bolt of Cold and Force Lance, in addition to any valid player spells (in Frederick's case, this is just Iron Shot).

History

• Prior to 0.31, servitors could cast spells that had a 50% failure rate or lower. Also, they couldn't cast Irradiate, but could cast Sticky Flame. In addition, they had 2 more HD.
• Prior to around 0.29, allies weren't smart enough to stop their attacks before they'd hit you. So in this kind of position:

.....
.@y9.
.....

The servitor could miss monster 'y' with a projectile, hitting you in the process.

• In 0.27, many low level and (now) monster-only spells were pruned from the eligible spell list, in order to accommodate Djinn.
• Prior to 0.25, your servitor gained a random selection of up to 5 of your destructive spells.
• Spellforged Servitor was added in 0.14.