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.
Strategy
The crystal ball is characterized by its shortcomings, at least as much as its strengths. It is quite heavy, makes the user helpless for a period of time, and, even with 18 Intelligence, has a non-trivial 10% chance of failure--and failure can be deadly to a weak or low-level character. If it does work, it only allows the user to search for a single class of monster or object, whereas most searching items are fail-safe, non-incapacitating, and will reveal all monsters or objects on a level.
A crystal ball should never be used:
- If you have fewer than 30 HP, in case of explosion.
- If you are in a position where you could be attacked in the next 10 turns.
- If you lack the means to cure blindness, confusion, or hallucination, and are unwilling to wait out the duration of those effects.
That said, there are cases in which a crystal ball can be effectively employed:
- It can be used to locate the portals on the elemental planes (as noted above) by searching for traps, ^. Do not do this unless you are safe from attack. The more traditional approach is to read a Scroll of gold detection while confused, as by a Potion of booze or Potion of confusion, and this must be generally preferable, as being confused is better than being in a trance, plus four potions and four scrolls weigh less than the crystal ball.
- If you are concerned about traps because you lack magic resistance and are below DL 8, where polymorph traps start to appear, using the crystal ball in a safe area can reduce the risk of falling prey to one (confused gold detection would still be better; this is a question of resource availability and conservation).
- When searching for vaults to clean out or locate the portal to Fort Ludios, a crystal ball can be used on otherwise clear levels to search for $ with a minimum of risk (gold detection and object detection are safer, but the note on resources still applies).
- Finally, a crystal ball is a magical tool, and thus a prime candidate for polypiling in hopes of receiving a magic marker.
