Crystal ball
( 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | crystal ball |
| Appearance | glass orb |
| Base price | 60 zm |
| Weight | 150 |
| Material | [[{{{material}}}]] |
| Monster use | Will not be used by monsters. |
A crystal ball, when applied or #invoked, lets you search for a symbol on the current level, consuming a charge. You use the crystal ball by looking into it, so obviously it will not work if you are blind.
A cursed crystal ball will do nothing, explode (for 1-30 HP), or cause confusion, blindness, or hallucination.
A uncursed crystal ball allows you to look for an "object or monster symbol" by specifying its text character. This includes traps and portals, ^, but not other dungeon features such as stairs, which can make a crystal ball useful for searching for the portals on the Elemental Planes, but not for finding the stairs in a maze. Your chance of success depends on your intelligence, with the formula being (intelligence/20). If the attempt fails, you will suffer the effects of using a cursed crystal ball. If you are hallucinating, you will be given one of a random set of messages, but nothing useful will happen.
You may occasionally be told, "You see the Wizard of Yendor gazing out at you," but this just a little joke from the DevTeam to "make them nervous."
A blessed crystal ball has no additional effect.
Applying a crystal ball will put you into a trance for 1 to 10 turns, during which time you will be helpless if attacked. A ring of free action will not prevent this.
A crystal ball can have up to 5 charges normally, but a blessed scroll of charging will set it to 6 charges (a non-blessed scroll will add a single charge, to a maximum of 5).
A crystal ball appears as a glass orb when unidentified.
The Orb of Fate and Orb of Detection are both artifact crystal balls, as is the now-defunct Palantir of Westernesse.
