Difference between revisions of "Spriggan"

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{{for monster}}
 
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{{flavour|Spriggans are small magical creatures distantly related to Elves. They love to frolic and cast mischievous spells.
 
{{flavour|Spriggans are small magical creatures distantly related to Elves. They love to frolic and cast mischievous spells.
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*[[Bad_mutations#Herbivorous|Herbivore 3]]: Spriggans gain more [[satiation]] from plant-based food, but they cannot eat meat, including chunks from [[corpse]]s.
 
*[[Bad_mutations#Herbivorous|Herbivore 3]]: Spriggans gain more [[satiation]] from plant-based food, but they cannot eat meat, including chunks from [[corpse]]s.
 
*[[Good_mutations#Fast|Fast 3]]: Spriggans cover ground extremely quickly during [[movement]].
 
*[[Good_mutations#Fast|Fast 3]]: Spriggans cover ground extremely quickly during [[movement]].
*Spriggans are [[Size#Player Sizes|little]] and are unable to use [[bardiche]]s, [[battleaxe]]s, [[dire flail]]s, [[executioner's axe]]s, [[glaive]]s, [[great mace]]s, [[great sword]]s, [[halberd]]s, [[longbow]]s, [[scythe]]s, [[triple sword]]s, [[giant club]]s, [[giant spiked club]]s, [[javelin]]s, and [[throwing net]]s. One-handed weapons like [[magical staves]], [[broad axe]]s, [[trident]]s, [[demon trident]]s, and [[double sword]]s are two-handed weapons to them.
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*Spriggans are [[Size#Player Sizes|little]] and are unable to use [[bardiche]]s, [[battleaxe]]s, [[dire flail]]s, [[executioner's axe]]s, [[glaive]]s, [[great mace]]s, [[great sword]]s, [[halberd]]s, [[longbow]]s, [[scythe]]s, [[triple sword]]s, [[giant club]]s, [[giant spiked club]]s, and [[javelin]]s. One-handed weapons like [[magical staves]], [[broad axe]]s, [[trident]]s, [[demon trident]]s, and [[double sword]]s are two-handed weapons to them.
**In addition, spriggans are unable to wear the following types of armour: [[shield]]s, [[large shield]]s, [[gloves]], [[boots]], [[helmet]]s, and any type of body armour apart from [[robe]]s, hides, [[troll leather armour]], and [[dragon armour]].
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**In addition, spriggans are unable to wear the following types of armour: [[large shield]]s, [[gloves]], [[boots]], [[helmet]]s, and any type of body armour apart from [[robe]]s, hides, [[troll leather armour]], and [[dragon armour]].
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Spriggans have a base [[Strength]] of 4, [[Intelligence]] of 9 and [[Dexterity]] of 11 (before Background modifiers). They have +1 to base [[magic points]].
  
 
==Preferred Backgrounds==
 
==Preferred Backgrounds==
 
*'''Warriors:''' [[Assassin]]
 
*'''Warriors:''' [[Assassin]]
 
*'''Zealots:''' [[Abyssal Knight]]
 
*'''Zealots:''' [[Abyssal Knight]]
*'''Warrior-mages:''' [[Transmuter]], [[Warper]], [[Enchanter]]
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*'''Warrior-mages:''' [[Warper]], [[Enchanter]]
*'''Mages:''' [[Wizard]], [[Necromancer]], [[Air Elementalist]], [[Earth Elementalist]], [[Venom Mage]]
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*'''Mages:''' [[Conjurer]], [[Earth Elementalist]], [[Venom Mage]]
 
*'''Adventurers:''' [[Artificer]]
 
*'''Adventurers:''' [[Artificer]]
  
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*+1 [[intelligence]] or [[dexterity]] (equal chance) every 5th level.
 
*+1 [[intelligence]] or [[dexterity]] (equal chance) every 5th level.
 
*30% less [[HP]] than average.
 
*30% less [[HP]] than average.
*30% more [[MP]] than average.
 
 
*+7 [[magic resistance]] per level.
 
*+7 [[magic resistance]] per level.
  
 
==Starting Skills and Equipment==
 
==Starting Skills and Equipment==
 
Spriggans start with the skills and equipment listed for their background, with the following exceptions.
 
Spriggans start with the skills and equipment listed for their background, with the following exceptions.
*[[Potions of porridge]] replace [[bread ration]]s.
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*Incompatible body armour is replaced with an [[animal skin]] or [[robe]].
*[[Stone]]s replace [[throwing net]]s.
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*[[Javelin]]s are replaced with [[tomahawk]]s.
  
 
==Difficulty of Play==
 
==Difficulty of Play==
{{Beginner}}
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{{Moderate}}
  
Spriggans are a fairly easy race to play, because the early game is a breeze and they are able to rely on their great speed and magic resistance for the whole game. They are also the only race with a "tiny" body, giving them great [[Dodging]] ability complemented by their excellent aptitude for it. They are not as effective with [[Short Blades]] and ranged weapons as [[Kobold]]s or [[Halfling]]s and have lower HP, as well as a worse aptitude for [[Fighting]].  
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Spriggans are a fairly easy race to play, primarily due to their very fast movement speed. They are also the only race with a "tiny" body, giving them high [[Evasion]] and [[stealth]] bonuses, complemented by their excellent aptitudes for those skills. Spriggans also have tremendous, albeit uneven, aptitudes in magic skills.  
  
Spriggans also have tremendous spellcasting aptitudes, but this is where they run into trouble. Since they cannot eat [[chunk]]s, [[spell hunger]] is a substantial limitation for Spriggan spellcasters – especially with the removal of [[The Hive]] in [[0.10]], formerly a source of large amounts of herbivore-friendly food.
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Though their dietary restrictions are more stringent than any other species, Spriggans seldom have real problems with food. At most, when playing a Spriggan, one should train [[Spellcasting]] a bit higher and a bit earlier than usual, to offset any [[spell hunger]] issues. Spriggans have an excellent aptitude for Spellcasting, so this is of little concern.
  
When playing a Spriggan, you should avoid casting most spells until you can bring their hunger cost down to zero; otherwise, you will burn through your limited food supplies and starve. To bring spell hunger costs down, focus on raising the [[Spellcasting]] skill and your Int.
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Spriggans have very low HP; keep this in mind even when you have huge EV and feel that nothing can touch you. A few bad rolls — or a few evasion-ignoring attacks — can cut through your HP suddenly. Fortunately, Spriggans' speed makes it easy to remain in control and fight or flee from battles on your own terms.
  
Even without spell hunger to contend with, Spriggans must carefully manage their permafood, as the only infinite sources in the game are raids on [[the Abyss]] or [[Pandemonium]], and those are by no means guaranteed. A [[staff of energy]] is a godsend for a spriggan.
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{{species_aptitudes|Spriggan}}
  
<!-- up to date for 0.9 -->
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==Strategy==
{{aptitudes
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Spriggans' innate abilities make them well-suited to a few particular classes:
|arm = -3
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*[[Enchanter]]s: Spriggans' aptitudes heavily favour [[stabbing]], as they are quite talented in Stealth, [[Short Blades]], and [[Hexes]]. Moreover, their high speed works very well for a stabber: unlike normal speed races, a few bad rolls of the dice will not leave a Spriggan with an angry ogre sticking to them like glue.
|ddg = 4
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*[[Venom Mage]]s and [[Assassin]]s: Both of these builds rely (early on, at least) upon inflicting high levels of poison on monsters from a distance. Spriggans' speed allows them to maintain that distance, letting them deal with many threats without ever letting them into melee range.
|sth = 5
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*[[Necromancer]]s: Since they have no other use for corpses, Spriggans can raise large armies of the dead without worrying about starving themselves.
|stb = 4
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*Conjurer and Summoner types in general: Being able to maintain distance while blasting is a great thing. Unfortunately, Spriggans' aptitudes for such magic are inconveniently terrible. The best combos for such characters are the aforementioned SpVM, and also SpAE: their aptitude for Air is not terrible, and there are several useful defensive Air/Charms spells.
|shd = -3
 
|t&d = 3
 
|inv = 0
 
|evo = 4
 
|exp = -1
 
|fgt = -2
 
|sbl = 1
 
|lbl = -2
 
|axs = -2
 
|m&f = -3
 
|pla = -3
 
|stv = -3
 
|u_c = -2
 
|thr = 1
 
|slg = 2
 
|bws = 2
 
|crb = 0
 
|spc = 2
 
|coj = -3
 
|hex = 2
 
|cha = 4
 
|sum = -2
 
|nec = -1
 
|trl = 4
 
|trm = 3
 
|fir = -2
 
|ice = -2
 
|air = -1
 
|ear = -1
 
|poi = 0
 
}}
 
  
==Strategy==
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As for god choice, Spriggans work reasonably well with most gods. A few stand out as somewhat more useful. In no particular order:
<!-- taken in part from http://www.thewholeclan.com/will/crawl/index.php/Spriggan -->
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*[[Kikubaaqudgha]]: Goes well with a necromancer build. The torment ability is a bit more useful for Spriggans than most races, since their speed provides a powerful escape option.
Spriggans make excellent [[Enchanter]]s and [[Transmuter]]s, and generally have a very easy time in the early game thanks to their blazing speed (and unlike [[Centaur]]s, they don't need to eat all the time). The middle game is where things begin to get tough for Spriggans, as more enemies have decent ranged attacks, and their speed/dodging is no longer so insurmountable an advantage. Spriggans are also among the most frail races in ''[[Crawl]]''; they have very low HP, compounded by the severe restrictions on the [[armour]] they can wear.  
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*[[Trog]]: A somewhat paradoxical choice, but actually pretty strong. Spriggans' intrinsic speed makes post-berserk slowing somewhat less dangerous, Trog's Hand helps out with their low HP, and Brothers in Arms is a powerful panic button in general. Watch the hunger cost on berserking, but there is generally a large amount of vegetarian food in most games.
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*[[Ashenzari]]: Complements a stabbing build very nicely. The detection and scrying can be good for avoiding danger, particularly around corners.
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*[[Okawaru]]: Armour gifts can occasionally be useful for Spriggans, since they are guaranteed to be wearable for them.
  
Spriggans have several tools for dealing with this, however. Their Spellcasting is keen enough that in practice, they have little trouble with attack spells, despite low aptitudes for [[Conjurations]] and elemental magics. They are also bar none the best sneaky assassins in the game. Aside from their uber [[Stealth]] and speed, their [[Hexes]] aptitude makes them great with invisibility, confusion, and other magical means of making enemies vulnerable to [[Stabbing]] (which they also excel at).
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Most other gods will work well, however. [[Elyvilon]] stands out as being slightly more difficult, since the abilities come with steep hunger costs that Spriggans will find a little harder to replace. [[Cheibriados]] is considerably more difficult, since they remove one of Spriggans' primary advantages, namely their speed.
  
Spriggans also have tremendous ability at [[Evocation]]. A Spriggan with a [[rod of destruction]] is nigh unstoppable, at least by monsters. The problem is to survive until you can [[Scroll of acquirement|acquire]] or find (good luck with that!) one, and then to survive the hunger from the rod (intelligence and spellcasting skill help with spellcasting hunger, slow metabolism 2 helps with walking about, but no matter how high your Evocations skill becomes, you can never reduce hunger from evoking a rod to zero).  
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==History==
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*Prior to [[0.19]], spriggans could not wield [[shield]]s
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*Prior to [[0.16]], spriggans began play with a [[potion of porridge]] in place of a bread ration.
  
Finally, they can get a lot of mileage out of [[god]]s who grant allies ([[Yredelemnul]], [[Makhleb]], [[Fedhas]], or - for an offbeat choice - [[Trog]]), as they can happily use all the meatshields they can get. Even better, all of these gods accept blood sacrifices or have other uses for corpses, which is great for Spriggans who don't need meat anyway. On the other hand, [[Sif Muna]] or [[Vehumet]] could add a lot to a Spriggan's already great magic game. [[Zin]] can help compensate for the Spriggan's picky diet through his Sustenance ability, and Spriggans are utterly unaffected by his dietary restrictions as theirs are already more severe. [[Jiyva]] can also help provide sustenance, and he may also provide useful resistances through mutation gifts; Spriggans also won't experience many of the disadvantages of the body-warping mutations they may acquire, as their size already limits the equipment they can use, and their high speed can help them get to useful items before hungry [[jelly|jellies]] do.
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[[Category:Spriggan]]
  
This wiki also contains a [[Spriggan Enchanter Guide]].
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{{species}}
[[Category:Species]] [[Category:Spriggan]]
 

Revision as of 09:07, 31 January 2018

Version 0.21: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.
This page is about the player species. For the monster, see Spriggan (monster).
Spriggans are small magical creatures distantly related to Elves. They love to frolic and cast mischievous spells.

They are poor fighters and have little physical resilience, though they are incredibly skilled at dodging attacks. They are terrible at destructive magic - conjurations, summonings, necromancy and elemental spells. On the other hand, they are excellent at other forms of magic, and are very good at moving silently and quickly. So great is their speed that a Spriggan can overtake a Centaur. Due to their tiny size, they need very little food. However, they are herbivorous and cannot eat meat. Their size also makes them unable to wear most armour. They cannot wield large weapons, and even most smaller weapons require both hands to be wielded by a Spriggan.

Innate abilities

Spriggans have a base Strength of 4, Intelligence of 9 and Dexterity of 11 (before Background modifiers). They have +1 to base magic points.

Preferred Backgrounds

Level Bonuses

Starting Skills and Equipment

Spriggans start with the skills and equipment listed for their background, with the following exceptions.

Difficulty of Play

SimpleIntermediateAdvanced

Spriggans are a fairly easy race to play, primarily due to their very fast movement speed. They are also the only race with a "tiny" body, giving them high Evasion and stealth bonuses, complemented by their excellent aptitudes for those skills. Spriggans also have tremendous, albeit uneven, aptitudes in magic skills.

Though their dietary restrictions are more stringent than any other species, Spriggans seldom have real problems with food. At most, when playing a Spriggan, one should train Spellcasting a bit higher and a bit earlier than usual, to offset any spell hunger issues. Spriggans have an excellent aptitude for Spellcasting, so this is of little concern.

Spriggans have very low HP; keep this in mind even when you have huge EV and feel that nothing can touch you. A few bad rolls — or a few evasion-ignoring attacks — can cut through your HP suddenly. Fortunately, Spriggans' speed makes it easy to remain in control and fight or flee from battles on your own terms.

Skill aptitudes

The higher the value, the better the aptitude.

Skill Aptitude Skill Aptitude Skill Aptitude
Attack Miscellaneous Magic
Fighting -2 Armour -3 Spellcasting 2
Dodging 3
Maces & Flails -3 Shields -3 Conjurations -3
Axes -2 Stealth 5 Hexes 2
Polearms -3 Summonings -2
Staves -3 Invocations 0 Necromancy -1
Unarmed Combat -2 Evocations 3 Translocations 4
Throwing 0 Shapeshifting 2 Alchemy 1
Fire Magic -2
Short Blades 1 Ice Magic -2
Long Blades -2 Air Magic -1
Ranged Weapons 0 Experience -1 Earth Magic -1

Strategy

Spriggans' innate abilities make them well-suited to a few particular classes:

  • Enchanters: Spriggans' aptitudes heavily favour stabbing, as they are quite talented in Stealth, Short Blades, and Hexes. Moreover, their high speed works very well for a stabber: unlike normal speed races, a few bad rolls of the dice will not leave a Spriggan with an angry ogre sticking to them like glue.
  • Venom Mages and Assassins: Both of these builds rely (early on, at least) upon inflicting high levels of poison on monsters from a distance. Spriggans' speed allows them to maintain that distance, letting them deal with many threats without ever letting them into melee range.
  • Necromancers: Since they have no other use for corpses, Spriggans can raise large armies of the dead without worrying about starving themselves.
  • Conjurer and Summoner types in general: Being able to maintain distance while blasting is a great thing. Unfortunately, Spriggans' aptitudes for such magic are inconveniently terrible. The best combos for such characters are the aforementioned SpVM, and also SpAE: their aptitude for Air is not terrible, and there are several useful defensive Air/Charms spells.

As for god choice, Spriggans work reasonably well with most gods. A few stand out as somewhat more useful. In no particular order:

  • Kikubaaqudgha: Goes well with a necromancer build. The torment ability is a bit more useful for Spriggans than most races, since their speed provides a powerful escape option.
  • Trog: A somewhat paradoxical choice, but actually pretty strong. Spriggans' intrinsic speed makes post-berserk slowing somewhat less dangerous, Trog's Hand helps out with their low HP, and Brothers in Arms is a powerful panic button in general. Watch the hunger cost on berserking, but there is generally a large amount of vegetarian food in most games.
  • Ashenzari: Complements a stabbing build very nicely. The detection and scrying can be good for avoiding danger, particularly around corners.
  • Okawaru: Armour gifts can occasionally be useful for Spriggans, since they are guaranteed to be wearable for them.

Most other gods will work well, however. Elyvilon stands out as being slightly more difficult, since the abilities come with steep hunger costs that Spriggans will find a little harder to replace. Cheibriados is considerably more difficult, since they remove one of Spriggans' primary advantages, namely their speed.

History

Species
Simple Hill OrcMinotaurMerfolkGargoyleDraconianTrollDeep ElfArmataurGnoll
Intermediate HumanKoboldDemonspawnDjinniSprigganGhoulTenguOniBarachi
Advanced Vine StalkerVampireDemigodFormicidNagaOctopodeFelidMummy