Summoning Spell Proposals

Creates a link between the player and the highest power summon that the player can see (so smoke, etc. could break the Link), % dmg taken by player is instead directed to the demon, where % and duration of the effect are determined by the power of the spell. Necromancy / Summoning ?

This could be neat as a necromancy spell that can also be cast on enemies (if not similar to Pain Mirror), or neat as a summoning spell, but I wouldn't make it a necro/summoning spell, as haunt already makes that combination very attractive and non-necro summoners should also have access to abilities like this. Demons might be a flavor problem, I don't know. — og17 2010-04-13 22:01

Summons one of the various eyes. Level 3 spell.

At higher spell levels you get more powerful eyes and/or gain the ability to see what the eye sees.

The reason it shouldn't be solely 'summon giant eye' is to prevent meph-style usage (randomness of eye chosen) but this usage should still exist. — studiomk 2010-07-27 01:53

• Level3 or 2
• immobile
• only 1 HP, makes no attempts at dodging
• very effective archer, fires phantasmal arrows
• Disappears if player can't see it. Flavour and anti-scumming.
• Also shattered by loud noise. Flavour and anti-scumming. It can make it unreliable with noisy monsters around (roars, shouts, lighting).

Inspired by Phantasmal Warrior from Master of Magic. This summon would be something new. You wouldn't be able to hide behind a wall of these. But it would be good for a melee/summoner hybrid, and for when monsters can't reach you, like some bailey maps. — b0rsuk 2010-08-07 18:06

I love this idea. — evktalo 2011-01-06 16:46

Who's supposed to use this? An actual summoner wouldn't, as the other summons would block LOS, and this summoner hybrid would also be better off with normal summons, as he then doesn't need to care about blocking LOS himself and those summons assist melee by taking hits and and creating escape opportunities. The idea could be functional with smite-targeting, though it's similar to fedhas oklobs and there's already more interesting ways of dealing with monsters that can't get to a summoner than what's basically a conjurations turret (flying summons, swimming summons, ranged summons, etc). The shattering part is a nethackism. — og17 2011-01-18 01:17

Assuming that it actually does more damage than other level 3-or-so summons, to compensate being unable to act as a tank, it would be good in open areas for hybrid caster-melee, or anyone who can survive in melee (like a naga). Remember, as a level 3 spell you don't actually have to be a dedicated summoner to cast this effectively. The important part is that it has to do enough damage that by the time a guy with spellcasting but not summoning can cast it it still makes a difference if you can do your part to keep the pressure off it. — brickman 2011-01-19 02:32

Inspired by the above idea, plus b0rsuk's notion on the existing spells page that even a singular mammal for 1 MP would be too cheap, here's a new L1 spell: you create a stationary monster, which will only hit enemies if you also hit them during the same turn. — evktalo 2011-01-17 12:56

It sounds like a (much) weaker version of Fedhas' wandering mushrooms, and since those are a potentially playstyle-determining unique god benefit copying them may not be ok. However, you could also argue that Fedhas is proof of concept that these would be fun to use, and they're not permanent and much weaker so they probably don't step on his toes very much. I will point out, though, that this is only usable if your summoner also trains melee or ranged combat, which for the rest of the game he doesn't need to use if he doesn't want to. — brickman 2011-01-17 17:57

There's nothing wrong with a 1 mp mammal/whatever spell, and a stationary statue-like monster feels a lot like “summon wall” (or fedhas plant, as above). Also as above, making a player use direct attacks on a class/school that's about indirect attacks doesn't make a lot of sense. — og17 2011-01-18 01:17

The devoted demonologist shouldn't always just abjure them once they're here. — jeffqyzt 2010-12-20

• A risky spell - the caster sacrifices some of their own blood in an attempt to bind a demonic creature to their will
• HP loss similar to self-casting sublimation of blood
• Designed to provide an alternative to casting abjuration - do I try to make this hostile demon friendly, or just make it go away?
• Effect similar to enslavement, perhaps longer duration.

I think if this were a Hexes/Summoning spell that assumes control of summoned creatures, it could be *really* awesome. — roctavian 2011-11-14 19:34

Summoning allies is overdone; as such, here's an alternative; I haven't bothered fleshing it out too much, but I like the idea, so I'm putting it here. — mrmistermonkey 2010-12-20 22:58

• Smite targeted; natural monsters only; perhaps resistable based on rN, MR, or HD
• Summons (flavour only) and binds a demon to the the target
  • Target develops demonic traits
    • Ideas? Perhaps based on specifications of existing crawl demons; e.g. merge spell sets, resists, attacks, speed, etc.
  • and goes neutral
    • or perhaps insane, depending on the demon.

I'm thinking this should be rather high-level, powerful, and dangerous; even if it isn't widely castable before the heavily demonic and undead extended endgame, note that it is indeed usable then, provided the caster summons some natural monsters first.

Name suggestions: Unholy Gift, Beast Possession, Imbue Demonic Essence
It sounds like you want apply a demonic “template” on top of the existing creature, something like a demonspawn version of the critter. I'm guessing this is based on e.g. biblical references to possessed herds of swine? Some questions:

• Why would this have a chance of making the target neutral/friendly? Is it the gratitude of the demon for being let loose in this body?
• Does the effect expire after a time? (whether or not applied to a summoned critter)
• What happens if you apply it to a summoned creature (as suggested above)?
  • Is the end-result friendly at the same rate as vs. a hostile creature?
  • How much more threatening would e.g. a demonic rat be?
  • Does the demonically imbued summoned creature expire at the end of the normal summon duration?

Also - if this is a potentially implementable idea, something similar in transmutations (applying mutations to a friendly critter) might be nice. —jeffqyzt 2010-12-21

There's not a chance of neutrality/friendliness; on success, the target always becomes neutral (this spell does not provide the caster control over the demon, so it may attack both the caster and its enemies), though perhaps catastrophic failure could result in hostility, or a hostile demon summon, in the case of possession failure.
Yes, the effect should expire, eventually.
Applying the spell to a summoned creature should have the same effect, and yes, this would not override summon duration.
On demonic rats, I figure this would rely on which demon possessed the rat; taking from existing crawl demons, a Balrug rat (most notably, fire spells and smiting) would probably be more dangerous than an Executioner rat (rats don't do enough damage to be notably dangerous at extremely high speeds, even with a damage boost), but when casting this spell in practice, the caster should target more dangerous monsters, whose demonic forms would be much more dangerous (e.g. higher hd means more spell power from Balrugs; higher damage means more punch from Executioners). — mrmistermonkey 2010-12-21 22:42

So, in order for the Demonically Endowed creature to be useful (other than as a corridor blocker), you'd need to first cast this spell (turning the critter neutral, even if it was formerly friendly, and possibly risking hostile demon instead) and then cast Enslave or something? Why would a summoner cast this vs. just summoning a new ally?
It seems that this would be more useful if applied to a permanent (or at least long-term) ally/pet. I'm a newbie, though, so I'm probably missing something obvious. How do you see this being used? —jeffqyzt 2010-12-21

Optimal usage on enemies would involve targeting monsters in the middle of packs and letting them do some damage before they die (hopefully before they kill the caster, as well); this sort of thing would be extremely powerful, as I see it. As for enslavement, I completely forgot about that; possessed monsters should probably be impossible to tame, and allies could remain friendly, but I'd prefer consistency. — mrmistermonkey 2010-12-21 23:37

02:19 < Eronarn> ranged attack, limited ammo, intelligent, flies!
02:19 < Eronarn> would be a cool summon :(
02:19 < Eronarn> it's basically exactly a turret monster
02:20 < Eronarn> could even have the flavor of the spell be that it's cowardly 
                 and flies away if it gets hit or runs out of ammo

And they're not evil either.

Also suggested by Eronarn. Have interesting hexes + smite, flight, and not evil.

The way I see things, summoning is mostly inherently evil - you're binding a creature to your will whether they like it or not, whether that creature is itself good or evil. The only exception is god summons, where the minions the god sends presumably made a choice (in the case of good gods, at least). — mumra 2011-11-14 12:40

Enslavement is not a problem for the good gods in Crawl. The whole concept of “evil” in Crawl is defined through the attitude of good gods towards things. — evktalo 2011-11-14 17:50

Sphinxes are powerful, and a pack of them would probably be a little much. Sphinxes are famous for their riddles, so why not have a summoned sphinx present you with one when she appears? In-game, this would just be a chance to be confused: say 75% no effect, 20% resistible confusion, 5% irresistible confusion. The sphinx would sti * ll be friendly, but you'd have to be careful about movement, and this would prevent using a ton of them to instakill most monsters. XXX and Haunt both already have casting costs beyond MP, but their costs can simply be tanked until you're out of danger - confusion cannot, so I think it'd add a unique aspect to the spell. -IonFrigate

The basic idea behind this spell is to give summoners the ability to avoid the penalties of killing with a summoned creature. The reasoning, from what I understand, for the penalty on kills by summon creatures is to prevent summoners making huge hordes of creatures and then sending them to kill off screen. With Spirit tether, the basic idea is you select one of your summon creatures and bind it to you and you have to keep close to it to get kills.

• Kills from a tethered creature give 100% to exp.
• A tethered summon does not vanish as long as the spell the tether spell is going.
• The cost of the spell is 3 MP + MP cost of the summoned creature. The MP cost of the summoned creature does not return to the* caster until the tether ends.
• Tethered creatures can only move a distance equal to the power of the tether spell from the caster (2-5 squares). If the caster blinks, teleports or overwise is forced to move, the tethered creature moves with and and appears by its side if possible.
• The caster gains an ability called “break tether” which will end the tether in 2 rounds after using it.
• If a tethered summon dies while tethered, the caster permanently loses 1 HP (or more). Other penalties might be paralysis, permanent mp loss, etc. Something really bad to make it a strategic choice to Spirit tether.

I kept the level low so that summoners could start using it fairly early but I wanted it to have a cost in both MP and spell levels to it wasn't a trivial pick. It would appear in the summoner starting spellbook but not in any other starting book. I had an idea for an upgraded level 8 version of the spell where the caster and summoned creature start sharing abilties and resistances as well. Maybe also don't allow spirit tethers with demons or have a different one for demons.

Summons, and allies in general, give less XP for kills because your ally is the one primarily at risk and doing all the work, not yourself. Reducing the XP penalty might be okay for a summoning god but not for a spell. — nicolae 2012-09-13 19:08

With the realy bad effect while dying.The caster takes a risk. — Andorxor 2012-09-14 14:12

Summons a rat that alway runs to the nearest stair case

Why do I find this oddly amusing? Personally I think Crawl could use more humor like this, but unfortunately the trend, for a long time, has been to eliminate such things. -IonFrigate