Crowning

You may be crowned as a result of prayer if you are at least piously aligned and extremely lucky. Crowning involves receiving a title, several intrinsic resistances, and possibly a gift, at the cost of a greatly increased prayer timeout.

Title

The title you receive is dependent on your current alignment:

Alignment	Title
Lawful	Hand of Elbereth
Neutral	Envoy of Balance
Chaotic	Glory of Arioch

Intrinsics

The following intrinsics are granted:

• cold resistance
• fire resistance
• poison resistance
• sleep resistance
• shock resistance
• see invisible

Alignment gift

A gift is given, based on the following algorithm:

• Wizard
  • If not wielding Vorpal Blade or Stormbringer, and not carrying a spellbook of finger of death, the gift is a blessed spellbook of finger of death.
  • If you got the book but already know the spell, see Exceptions
  • Otherwise, see Others
• Monk
  • If not wielding an artifact or carrying a spellbook of restore ability, the gift is a blessed spellbook of restore ability.
  • If you got the book but already know the spell, see Exceptions
  • Otherwise, see Others
• Others
  • Lawful
    • If wielding a non-artifact long sword (or as primary weapon if using two-weaponing) and Excalibur does not exist in the game, the long sword is changed into the blessed rustproof Excalibur. Its enchantment is set to +1 if it had been less than +1.
    • Otherwise, see Exceptions
  • Neutral
    • If Vorpal Blade does not exist in the game, it is given as a gift.
    • Otherwise, see Exceptions
  • Chaotic
    • If Stormbringer does not exist in the game, it is given as a gift.
    • Otherwise, see Exceptions
• Exceptions: If none of the previous rules apply, the player's current weapon (if any) is blessed, increased to +1 if below that, and made unrusted and rustproof, and its corresponding skill class is unrestricted, regardless of player class.

Additionally, the following skill classes are always unrestricted based on the player's alignment:

Alignment	Alignment gift skill
Lawful	Long sword
Neutral	Long sword
Chaotic	Broadsword

Exceptions

If you already have the crowning gift or it was an artifact that has already been generated in your game, then "You feel unworthy" and do not receive a gift. The exception is if you are neutral and wielding Vorpal Blade, in which case, "Your Vorpal Blade goes snicker-snack!" You will still unrestrict the weapon skill for the weapon you would have been given, even if you are a Wizard and receive the spellbook instead of the weapon. For characters who have discovered the crowning weapon and already have that proficiency, this is usually a bad deal. You can avoid being crowned by only praying while in trouble and not at an altar, or by making sure your Luck is at most nine (see that page for ways to do so).

Prayer timeout

The downside of getting crowned is that the player's prayer timeout is greatly increased permanently. Players that depend heavily on prayer may find themselves crowned earlier than those that do not, by sheer statistics. Unfortunately, it is these players that are hurt by being crowned, as the increased prayer timeout means they must go longer without praying. If the player does not need the benefits listed above, being crowned is not necessary, though ascending with a title is a nice aesthetic bonus.

It is possible to compensate for the increased prayer timeout by making a large number of sacrifices.