Displacement

Effects

Displacement causes your image to appear a tile or two away from where you actually are. This makes it very difficult for monsters to hit you. The cloak of displacement, which is currently the only way this property can be obtained, is prized in the early game for it.

The exact effects are as follows: Displacement will make any given monster think you are at a random square within a 5x5 area centred on the player (read: 2 squares to either side). If you do not have a clear line of sight to the monster, it will only generate the image in a 3x3 square around you (read: it will put the displaced image directly next to you). This is presumably to prevent monsters being alerted to your presence from well around corners, or from the other side of a closed door.

As the observant reader will have figured out from the last paragraph, displacement is done per-monster, so your displaced image will generally be in two different locations for two different monsters. This makes it possible for a monster to attack another monster under the illusion that it is you, if your displaced image has been generated on top of the second monster.

If a monster knows where you are, displacement has no effect, unlike Invisibility which still grants a -2 to-hit bonus when a monster knows your location. However, when a monster does not know your location, it only has a 1/4 chance per turn of figuring out where you actually are, as opposed to 1/3 for invisibility. Like invisibility, each time you move, you must be "found" again by the monster in question. This makes having displacement or invisibility invaluable when you are running like hell from a fight you are ill-equipped for.

Hazards

The cloak of displacement only grants MC2. Unless you wear it over a mithril-coat, you risk exposing yourself to monsters' special attacks.

If a lawful demon prince mistakenly demands a bribe from your displaced image, he will become hostile with no further chance to pacify him.

Displacement vs Invisibility

Unlike invisibility, displacement still allows monsters to see you. If visible and without stealth, you will wake up sleeping monsters quite often. Displacement helps when monsters are already awake and attacking you. If you have a choice between displacement and invisibility, such as in a used armor dealership, think about whether you want to avoid combat or bash in monsters' skulls. There are many ways to become invisible (cloak of invisibility, spellbook of invisibility, ring of invisibility, potion of invisibility, wand of make invisible, and stalker meat), so you should be able to acquire both intrinsics without too much difficulty, once you have displacement.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, monster displacement exists. Therefore, monsters can be displaced, resulting in amusing remarks

You displace the displacer beast.

Displacer beasts and shimmering dragons both have displacement.

Origin

In Dungeons and Dragons, a displacer beast appears several feet away from where it truly stands.

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