View source for Deva

The devas are a group of [[angelic being|angelic beings]] added in [[SLASH'EM]]. They are all characterized by strong physical attacks, high [[speed]], and clerical [[spellcasting]], similar to [[aligned priest|aligned priests]]. They are most often encountered as minions, either given to lawful characters through [[prayer]]{{refsrc|pray.c|1203|version=SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2}} or [[sacrifice]],{{refsrc|pray.c|1167|version=SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2}} or created when attempting to convert a lawful altar. As minions, they are quite powerful, and can be a useful source of [[shield of reflection|shields of reflection]] or even [[artifact weapon]]s ([[Sunsword]] and [[Demonbane]]), which they have a chance of [[Monster starting inventory|starting with]].
==SLASH'EM==
===Movanic deva===
{{monster
|name = movanic deva
|difficulty = 21
|level = 12
|speed = 18
|AC = &minus;5
|MR = 90
|align = 15
|experience = 422
|frequency = 1
|genocidable = No
|attacks = Weapon [[fire]] 3d4, Weapon [[fire]] 3d4, Claw 3d4, Spellcasting (clerical) 2d6
|size = Medium
|weight = 1450
|nutr = 400
|resistances = [[Death ray|death magic]]
|resistances conveyed = None
|attributes = {{attributes|A movanic deva|=
|fly = 1
|humanoid = 1
|seeinvis = 1
|nopoly = 1
|minion = 1
|stalk = 1
|strong = 1
|nasty = 1
|infravisible = 1
|infravision = 1
|plusone = 1
|nocorpse = 1
|nohell=1
}}
|reference = [[SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line1945]]
}}
The movanic deva is the weakest of the devas.  It is still a formidable opponent, particularly if one lacks [[fire resistance]], as its attacks will then burn you.  It is able to cast clerical spells, including possibly [[curse items]] and [[summon insects]].
{{Clear}}

===Monadic deva===
{{monster
|name = monadic deva
|difficulty = 23
|level = 15
|speed = 18
|AC = &minus;4
|MR = 90
|align = 15
|experience = 531
|frequency = 1
|genocidable = No
|attacks = Weapon 3d4, Weapon 6d4, Spellcasting (clerical) 3d4
|size = Medium
|weight = 1450
|nutr = 400
|resistances = [[Death ray|death magic]]
|resistances conveyed = None
|attributes = {{attributes|A monadic deva|=
|fly = 1
|humanoid = 1
|seeinvis = 1
|nopoly = 1
|minion = 1
|stalk = 1
|strong = 1
|nasty = 1
|infravisible = 1
|infravision = 1
|plusone = 1
|nocorpse = 1
|nohell=1
}}
|reference = [[SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line1954]]
}}
Monadic devas are slightly stronger than movanic devas, and are distinctive in that their physical attacks do only normal damage.  Still, they are quite formidable opponents, similar in level to an [[Angel]] but much faster.  They are also able to cast all clerical spells, including fire pillar (same effect as a [[scroll of fire]]) and geyser.
{{Clear}}

===Astral deva===
{{monster
|name = astral deva
|difficulty = 27
|level = 18
|speed = 18
|AC = &minus;6
|MR = 90
|align = 15
|experience = 676
|frequency = 1
|genocidable = No
|attacks = Weapon 3d12, Weapon [[stun]] 1d4, Spellcasting (clerical) 3d4
|size = Medium
|weight = 1450
|nutr = 400
|resistances = [[Death ray|death magic]]
|resistances conveyed = None
|attributes = {{attributes|An astral deva|=
|fly = 1
|humanoid = 1
|seeinvis = 1
|nopoly = 1
|minion = 1
|stalk = 1
|strong = 1
|nasty = 1
|infravisible = 1
|infravision = 1
|plusone = 1
|nocorpse = 1
|nohell=1
}}
|reference = [[SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line1962]]
}}
The toughest of the devas, astral devas are almost equivalent to an [[Archon]] in difficulty.  They do similar amounts of physical damage, and while the astral deva cannot stun and blind with its gaze, it can stun with its physical attacks.  The astral deva is also slightly faster than the Archon, with a speed of 18 over the Archon's 16.  They are almost the same base level (18 for the astral deva versus 19 for the Archon), and are both spellcasters.  Luckily, the astral deva is unable to [[summon nasties]], as it can only cast clerical spells, which summon nasties fortunately is not.  It can, however, [[summon insects]], which is somewhat dangerous given some of [[SLASH'EM]]'s new insects, such as the [[assassin bug]] or [[killer beetle]].
{{Clear}}

===Strategy===
The devas, with the [[Planetar]]s and [[Solar]]s, constitute one of the chief reasons that lawful [[alignment]] is very nice in SLASH'EM.  Not only are these dangerous monsters always peaceful to you, but you have a very good chance of receiving a number of them as pets, both from [[altar]]s and occasionally from praying while in trouble. Additionally, receiving them as minions from sacrificing does not increase your prayer timeout, and so does not even require that much time or nutrition.

If you are not lawful, these are all formidable opponents. It should be noted that, "in the wild", these monsters are all quite rarely seen, particularly since they cannot appear in [[Gehennom]] and are relatively high-level. However, one should think twice about converting lawful altars in SLASH'EM. It is better to convert altars at lower experience levels, since then easier [[couatl]]s and [[Aleax]]es will be created instead of devas. It is best, in fact, to convert altars below experience level 4, since then no [[minion]]s will be created.

In combat, it is good to keep in mind that devas are not guaranteed a [[shield of reflection]], unlike Archons, although they do have a reasonable chance of having one. They all resist [[death ray]]s, but no other types of damage. Thus, attack wands work well against them, although their high [[Magic resistance (monster)|MR]] of 90 means that wands of {{of|wand|sleep|striking|and=1|magic missile}} are likely to be ineffective. If they do have a shield of reflection, wands of draining and wands of fireball are good choices against them, since they resist neither and neither can be reflected. [[Stoning]] is also a good choice if it is available; since they do not [[summon nasties]], however, a cockatrice corpse is less likely to be around. Escape items, in particular [[wand of teleportation|wands]] or [[scroll of teleportation|scrolls]] of teleportation, are recommended as a back-up plan, in light of their high speed and the fact that they will follow you from level to level if adjacent to you.

====As pets====
Devas can make very powerful pets. They are very fast, can heal themselves, don't eat, and unlike the most powerful pets ([[Solar]]s and [[giant shoggoth]]s), are medium-sized and can thus wear armor and cloaks. This can be particularly useful to a pacifist character, as it is much easier to give devas magic resistance, either with a [[cloak of magic resistance]] or [[gray dragon scale mail]]. Contrast this to large monsters, which can only gain extrinsic magic resistance by wielding [[Magicbane]]. Devas can thus gain immunity to [[polymorph trap]]s, making them much more reliable pets. Also, an astral deva wearing a fully-enchanted set of armor will have an AC of around &minus;59, about the best achievable for any monster. Still, an astral deva can only reach level 27 without potions of gain level; while it will be powerful and difficult to kill, it still will not engage the tougher monsters in SLASH'EM without [[conflict]].

While useful, devas gained as minions through sacrifice or prayer cannot pick up or use any items other than the ones they start with. In particular, this means that disarming one (perhaps because it is carrying [[Sunsword]]) will disarm it permanently, somewhat decreasing its damage potential, and making it unable to attack petrifying monsters at all. However, for lawfuls, it is possible to gain large numbers of these minions, who in combination with a [[magic whistle]] can be very useful.

==dNetHack==

In [[dNetHack]], '''Devas''' are the most common type of neutral angel. As with most other angelic monsters, Devas will only be generated in the [[End Game|Planes]], or as minions for altars when attempting to convert.

=== Movanic Deva ===

{{monster
 |name=Movanic Deva
 |symbol={{white|9}}
 |tile=
 |difficulty=14
 |level=8
 |experience=212
 |speed=12
 |AC=0
 |MR=30
 |align=0
 |frequency=1
 |genocidable=No
 |attacks=Weapon 4d6 [[fire]], Cast 0d6 [[clerical]]
 |weight=1450
 |nutr=400
 |size=medium
 |resistances=[[cold]], [[sleep]], [[shock]], [[poison]], [[acid]], [[petrification]]
 |resistances conveyed=[[sleep]]
 |attributes={{attributes
 |A Movanic Deva|=
 |fly=1
 |humanoid=1
 |seeinvis=1
 |nopoly=1
 |stalk=1
 |nasty=1
 |strong=1
 |collect=1
 |infravisible=1
 |sgroup=1
 |nocorpse=1
 |notame=1
 }}
 |refline=
}}

{{clear}}

=== Monadic Deva ===

{{monster
 |name=Monadic Deva
 |symbol={{black|9}}
 |tile=
 |difficulty=15
 |level=10
 |experience=331
 |speed=14
 |AC=&minus;5
 |MR=30
 |align=0
 |frequency=1
 |genocidable=No
 |attacks=Weapon 2d8 physical, Weapon 2d8 physical, Gaze attack 4d8 random element
 |weight=1450
 |nutr=400
 |size=medium
 |resistances=[[fire]], [[cold]], [[sleep]], [[disintegration]], [[shock]], [[poison]], [[acid]], [[petrification]], [[level drain]], [[disease]]
 |resistances conveyed=[[sleep]]
 |attributes={{attributes
 |A Monadic Deva|=
 |fly=1
 |humanoid=1
 |seeinvis=1
 |nopoly=1
 |stalk=1
 |nasty=1
 |strong=1
 |collect=1
 |infravisible=1
 |sgroup=1
 |nocorpse=1
 |drain=1
 |notame=1
 }}
 |refline=
}}

{{clear}}

=== Astral Deva ===

{{monster
 |name=Astral Deva
 |symbol={{gray|9}}
 |tile=
 |difficulty=18
 |level=12
 |experience=406
 |speed=16
 |AC=&minus;9
 |MR=30
 |align=0
 |frequency=1
 |genocidable=No
 |attacks=Weapon 2d8 physical, Weapon 2d8 physical, Cast 0d6 [[clerical spell]]
 |weight=1450
 |nutr=400
 |size=medium
 |resistances=[[cold]], [[sleep]], [[shock]], [[poison]], [[acid]], [[petrification]]
 |resistances conveyed=[[sleep]]
 |attributes={{attributes
 |An Astral Deva|=
 |fly=1
 |humanoid=1
 |seeinvis=1
 |nopoly=1
 |stalk=1
 |nasty=1
 |strong=1
 |collect=1
 |infravisible=1
 |sgroup=1
 |nocorpse=1
 |notame=1
 }}
 |refline=
}}

{{clear}}

=== Graha Deva ===

{{monster
 |name=Graha Deva
 |symbol={{brown|9}}
 |tile=
 |difficulty=22
 |level=17
 |experience=616
 |speed=16
 |AC=&minus;9
 |MR=30
 |align=0
 |frequency=1
 |genocidable=No
 |attacks=Weapon 3d6 physical, Weapon 3d6 physical, Cast 0d6 [[clerical spell]]
 |weight=2225
 |nutr=400
 |size=large
 |resistances=[[cold]], [[sleep]], [[shock]], [[poison]], [[acid]], [[petrification]]
 |resistances conveyed=[[sleep]]
 |attributes={{attributes
 |A Graha Deva|=
 |fly=1
 |humanoid=1
 |seeinvis=1
 |nopoly=1
 |stalk=1
 |nasty=1
 |strong=1
 |collect=1
 |infravisible=1
 |nocorpse=1
 |light=1
 |notame=1
 |light2=1
 }}
 |refline=
}}

'''Graha Devas''' cast a wider variety of spells than is typical.

{{clear}}

=== Surya Deva ===
{{monster
 |name=Surya Deva
 |symbol={{yellow|9}}
 |tile=[[File:SuryaDevadnh.png]]
 |difficulty=30
 |level=22
 |experience=904
 |speed=16
 |AC=&minus;9
 |MR=30
 |align=0
 |frequency=1
 |genocidable=No
 |attacks=Weapon 2d8 physical, Weapon 2d8 physical, Gaze attack 5d6 [[blind]]ing, Arrow 1d1 [[Arrow of Slaying]], Cast 0d9 [[clerical spell]]
 |weight=3000
 |nutr=800
 |size=large
 |resistances=[[cold]], [[sleep]], [[shock]], [[poison]], [[acid]], [[petrification]], [[magic]]
 |resistances conveyed=[[sleep]]
 |attributes={{attributes
 |A Surya Deva|=
 |fly=1
 |humanoid=1
 |seeinvis=1
 |nopoly=1
 |stalk=1
 |nasty=1
 |strong=1
 |collect=1
 |infravisible=1
 |nocorpse=1
 |light=1
 |notame=1
 }}
 |refline=
}}

'''Surya Devas''' favor ''fire pillar'' and ''mass cure''. In addition, each Surya is paired with a '''dancing blade''', which stays near its Deva and attacks its foe. Killing a Surya Deva also destroys its dancing blade. Destroying a dancing blade directly doesn't hurt the Deva, but the blade will not be replaced. Their Arrow of Slaying attack fires blessed +57 phasing silver arrows.

{{clear}}

==== Dancing blade ====

{{monster
 |name=dancing blade
 |symbol={{brightcyan|'}}
 |tile=
 |difficulty=26
 |level=22
 |experience=0
 |speed=24
 |AC=&minus;20
 |MR=125
 |align=0
 |frequency=0
 |genocidable=No
 |attacks=Claw 3d6 physical, Claw 3d6 physical, Claw 3d6 physical, Claw 3d6 physical
 |weight=1500
 |nutr=0
 |size=medium
 |resistances=[[fire]], [[cold]], [[sleep]], [[disintegration]], [[shock]], [[poison]], [[acid]], [[petrification]], [[level drain]], [[disease]], [[magic]]
 |resistances conveyed=[[sleep]]
 |attributes={{attributes
 |A dancing blade|=
 |fly=1
 |amphibious=1
 |breathless=1
 |notake=1
 |noeyes=1
 |nohands=1
 |nolimbs=1
 |nohead=1
 |mindless=1
 |regen=1
 |nopoly=1
 |nocorpse=1
 |death=1
 |drain=1
 |notame=1
 }}
 |refline=
}}

{{clear}}

=== Mahadeva ===

{{monster
 |name=Mahadeva
 |symbol={{magenta|9}}
 |tile=
 |difficulty=34
 |level=30
 |experience=1391
 |speed=18
 |AC=&minus;10
 |MR=90
 |align=0
 |frequency=1
 |genocidable=No
 |attacks=Deva Arms 2d8 physical, Cast 0d8 [[mage spell]]
 |weight=3000
 |nutr=400
 |size=large
 |resistances=[[fire]], [[cold]], [[sleep]], [[disintegration]], [[shock]], [[poison]], [[acid]], [[petrification]], [[level drain]], [[disease]], [[magic]]
 |resistances conveyed=[[sleep]]
 |attributes={{attributes
 |A Mahadeva|=
 |fly=1
 |humanoid=1
 |regen=1
 |seeinvis=1
 |nopoly=1
 |lord=1
 |stalk=1
 |nasty=1
 |strong=1
 |collect=1
 |magic=1
 |infravisible=1
 |nocorpse=1
 |drain=1
 |notame=1
 }}
 |refline=
}}

'''Mahadevas''' are extremely dangerous to targets with poor AC.  Their Deva arms weapon attack repeats until it misses, meaning that it can hit a poorly defended target dozens of times in a single turn.  Mahadevas also cast ''ice storm'' and ''arrow rain'', which are best resisted by strongly negative AC.

{{clear}}

=== Iksh'na Deva ===

{{monster
 |name=Iksh'na Deva
 |symbol={{brightblue|9}}
 |tile=
 |difficulty=13
 |level=11
 |experience=416
 |speed=9
 |AC=6
 |MR=50
 |align=0
 |frequency=0
 |genocidable=No
 |attacks=Weapon 1d8 physical (becomes Deva Arms at level 45+), Magic blades (offhand) 4d8 [[silver rapier]] (level 18+), Cast 0d0 [[clerical spell]] (11+ [[insight]]), Single-target (active) gaze attack 4d6 [[random gaze type]] (55+ [[insight]]), Single-target (active) gaze attack 4d6 [[random gaze type]] (level 30+ and 55+ [[insight]]), Passive 3d5 [[paralysis]] (33+ [[insight]])
 |weight=9000
 |nutr=400
 |size=medium
 |resistances=[[fire]], [[cold]], [[sleep]], [[shock]]
 |resistances conveyed=[[sleep]]
 |attributes={{attributes
 |An Iksh'na Deva|=
 |fly=1
 |notake=1
 |humanoid=1
 |seeinvis=1
 |omnivore=1
 |nopoly=1
 |peaceful=1
 |nasty=1
 |strong=1
 |infravisible=1
 |nocorpse=1
 |death=1
 }}
 |reference=
}}

Although they are not randomly generated, there is a statue of an '''Iksh'na Deva''' in the Drow Healer quest. It will revive tame and loyal, but will have the plague and be unable to move until cured.

At level 45, their weapon attack is replaced with a Deva Arms attack similar to a Mahadeva. They will cast mother's gaze 50% of the time, and one of recover, mass cure far, paralyze, sleep, destroy armor, destroy weapon, destroy weapon, mass cure close, or cure self the rest of the time. When below 50% HP, they may emit healing energy, which heals the Iksh'na Deva, sears adjacent silver-hating and holy-hating creatures, and heals other creatures.

{{clear}}

==Origin==

The devas in this form originate from ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''. They are devas in Buddhism, Hinduism and new age religions. The new age deva inspired ''D&D''.

The new age devas are spirits or beings that contribute in the functioning of nature. The monadic and astral devas probably refer to devas of the respective monadic and astral planes. The movanic deva origin wasn't found. In ''D&D'', movanic devas are concerned with the mortal world, monadic devas with the ethereal and elemental planes, and astral devas with the astral and outer planes.

The [[Planetar and Solar]] are also new age devas.

==Encyclopedia entry==
{{encyclopedia|Devas are the descendants of plane-touched aasimon.  They have
feathery wings that may be vestigial or functional.
Movanic devas are the most frequently seen by mortals. Their
milky skin and slender build distinguishes them from the
dark and muscular monadic devas.  The latter are rarely encountered
except in the inner planes. It is said they are able to breathe
elements other than air.
[ adapted from Aasimar, by David Roberts and Brynn ]
}}
==References==
<references/>
[[Category:SLASH'EM monsters]]
[[Category:dNetHack monsters]]