Spirits (dNetHack)

Spirits are a mechanic specific to dNetHack, and a core component of the Binder role, though other roles can often partially interact with them, allowing for additional flexibility and utility outside of the ordinary for that role.

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A spirit typically consists of the following:

• An engraved seal, used to bind the spirit, and an associated binding ritual, which requires the player fulfill certain criteria to bind to a given spirit.
• A taboo, a condition that must be true in order for the spirit to stay bound. Violating a taboo causes the associated spirit to unbind and drain a level from the player, ignoring drain resistance.
• Zero or more skills (typically at least one), which are permanently unrestricted and which may be advanced further while the spirit is bound.
• Zero or more active powers (typically at least one), which may be used up to once every 25 turns by means of the command ^F or #power.
• Zero or more passive powers (typically at least one), which are used automatically.
• A mark which, if not concealed, will cause priests and shopkeepers to ban you from their establishments at minimum. A higher number of visible binding marks will cause them to call the Keter Sephiroth (specifically, the Daat Sephiroth). Priests may additionally summon a number of servants from their deity to strike you down.

Almost all bindings expire after 5000 turns, requiring them to be bound again.

Most roles only have a single slot to bind a spirit to, while Binders gain many more as they level up, and also possess several special slots to hold unique spirits in.

Many active powers use a spirit die to determine the potency of their effects. The spirit die increases along with your level, according to the following table. Binders and non-Binders alike use the same die sizes.

Level range	Rank Title	Die size
1-2	Exile	1
3-5	Heretic	d2
6–9	Cultist	d3
10–13	Binder	d4
14–17	Akousmatikoi	d5
18–21	Mathematikoi	d6
22–25	Doctor	d7
26–29	Unbinder	d8
30	Gnostikos	d9

The Spirits of the Near Void

The 31 Spirits of the Near Void are the most basic and common of the spirits in dNethack. Binders passively learn all 31 seals as they level up. By level 13, they'll know all 31. Other roles can learn them from finding the seal on the ground or by using artifacts such as The Book of Lost Names or the Necronomicon.

Binders have a certain number of spirit slots for them per level, but non-Binders can bind a maximum of one Spirit of the Near Void at a time.

Level range	Binder rank title	Max spirits bound	Total seals known
1	Exile	1	3
2			5
3	Heretic	2	7
4			10
5			12
6	Cultist		14
7			17
8			19
9			21
10	Binder	3	24
11			26
12			28
13			31
14–17	Akousmatikoi
18–21	Mathematikoi	4
22–25	Doctor
26–29	Unbinder	5
30	Gnostikos

Ahazu, the Seizer

All shall feed the Shattered Night.

Binding Ritual

Ahazu's seal must be drawn in a square containing a pit trap.

Taboo

You must not become weak with hunger while bound to Ahazu.

Mark

There is a starry void in the back of your throat.

This mark won't be detected from a distance, and can be hidden by wearing a mask or R'lyehian faceplate.

Immunity

You are immune to engulfing attacks.

Skill

Flails, including iron balls. Hitting with an iron ball will train flail skill as it does for Convicts.

Active Powers

• Abduction: Attempt to remove single adjacent monster from the game. You must have injured the monster with a melee attack or a thrown or fired projectile. The monster is not killed, so this will not count as it being slain for any purposes, it merely vanishes. You do not receive any experience, the monster is not counted as killed for quest or other purposes (including the Temple of Chaos artifacts), and there is no way to bring it back. All of their inventory vanishes with them, except unique items or indestructible artifacts - which only includes alignment keys, the Annulus, the Silver Key & the Pen of the Void. Your prayer timeout or god's anger is decreased as though you had sacrificed the victim, and you gain any beneficial effects that you would have gained from eating their corpse, while avoiding any harmful effects. You do not gain any nutrition from abducted creatures.

Passive Powers

• Engulf: Creatures you attack in melee will be abducted at 10% hp or less. This is meant to be as much a hindrance as a help.
• Shadow Well: Creatures you attack in melee have a 20% chance of losing their next move.
• Swallow: You can eat any meal in 1 turn. You still suffer any negative effects of the food (acidic, poisonous, etc.) unlike abduction. The duration of any temporary intrinsic you receive by eating corpses is reduced by 10%.
• Hunger: You lose nutrition at an increased rate (1 extra point per 10 turns).

Amon, the Shadow Before the Altar

"You shall have no other gods before Me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.

You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing loving kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

[ Deuteronomy 5:6-21 ]

Binding Ritual

Amon can be contacted from anywhere; however, if there is an altar on the level the contract is immediately broken, draining a level and setting the spirit timeout.

Taboo

You must not pray or donate to priests. The full atheist conduct is not required, other actions such as altar-testing are allowed.

Mark

You grow a large pair of horns.

The horns can easily be seen from a distance, but will merge with any metal helm to become disguised.

Immunity

You are immune to cold damage.

Skill

Amon grants skill in clerical spellcasting.

Active Powers

• Fire Breath: Breathe a ray of fire, much like a red dragon. The ray deals 5 dice of fire damage to all creatures it hits, but requires to-hit rolls.

Passive Powers

• Horns: Your horns grant you an extra melee attack, a headbutt dealing 1d9 physical damage.
• See in Darkness: You can see perfectly in darkness (Reversed for drows who can see perfect in light instead).

Andrealphus, Marquis of Angles

"Angles and curves multiply about me. I perceive great segments of time through curves. There is curved time, and angular time. The beings that exist in angular time cannot enter curved time. It is very strange."

His voice had risen to a scream. "Frank, Frank, a terrible and unspeakable deed was done in the beginning. Before time, the deed, and from the deed—"

He had risen and was hysterically pacing the room. "The seeds of the deed move through angles in dim recesses of time. They are hungry and athirst!"

[ The Hounds of Tindalos (1929), by Frank Belknap Long]

Binding Ritual

Andrealphus exists in corners. His seal must be drawn in the corner of a room, and you must #chat to the seal such that the corner is across from you.

Taboo

You must not dig through walls. It is permissible to dig through rough stone.

Mark

Your shadow takes on the semblance of depth.

From a distance, the strangeness of your shadow can't be seen, and it can be hidden by standing in a dark square.

Immunity

You gain teleport control.

Skill

Andrealphus grants skill in escape spells.

Active Powers

• Transdimensional Ray: Fire an invisible beam that passes through walls, teleports struck monsters, and deals 1d5 dice of damage to them.
• Teleport: Hungerless teleport.

Passive Powers

• Angle-fighter: When you stand in a corner, you get a (lvl/2)+1 bonus to AC.
• Strange angles: You can always fit through narrow openings, regardless of your current carried weight.

Andromalius, the Repentant Rogue

There is a legend.

Once, there was a rogue, the favorite servant of the Thief God. With his dying breath, the rogue renounced theft, thereby stealing his soul from the God.

Binding Ritual

Andromalius's seal must contain any two of the following: a sack, a silver key, a golden ring, a coin, a dagger, an apple, a scroll, a tin whistle, a mirror, an egg (any kind), a potion, a dead cave spider, a dead member of your own race, a dead elf/dwarf/gnome/orc/hobbit/human/or primate, a spellbook, a bell, a set of lockpicks, a live sewer rat.

The chosen objects are removed from the game. In their place, Andromalius gives you a third item drawn from the list. You may receive a tame sewer rat as your third item.

Taboo

You must not make use of any item that was stolen from a shopkeeper, nor directly steal from a shop. Warning: the binder's starting food and weapons are stolen, so (for example) eating the starting food will immediately unbind Andromalius.

Mark

Your facial features take on the rigidity of a bad disguise.

Your odd face will not be noticed from a distance. You can also wear a mask or stay out of the light to disguise it.

Immunity

You are immune to theft. This applies to both item and gold stealing theft attacks. This does apply to seduction theft attacks from nymphs and similar, but not standard seduction attacks from foocubi and similar.

Skill

Andromalius grants skill in daggers.

Active Powers

• Jester's Mirth: Immobilize a single adjacent monster with laughter. If they pass a monster MR check, it will freeze them for 1 turn. Otherwise, freezes them for turns equal to a single binder die roll. They will be vulnerable to sneak attacks while immobilized.
• Thief's Instincts: Detect hidden doors and traps.

Passive Powers

• Detect Thieves: You gain warning against all monsters with a theft attack. Which may be less useful than it sounds, given that they can't steal from you.
• Sneak attack: You may make sneak attacks like a Rogue.
• Know Stolen: Any stolen items in your inventory are known to be stolen.

Astaroth, the Broken Clockmaker

He is very old. He is hurting very badly. He is underwater, in space, and everywhere else. He cannot get off his chair. He is stuck there forever because he is so badly hurt.

[ SCP-1348, SCP Foundation ]

…not afraid of The Lord, for He is as we are, broken and scattered. As we restore the body of God, so we restore ourselves. To join with the Lord is good. As we give honor and worship to the Lord, so does He honor us. To serve the Lord is good. As we guard the Lord from harm, so does He…

[ Church of the Broken God Bible Fragments, SCP Foundation ]

Binding Ritual

An eroded item (rusty, corroded, rotted, or burnt) item must be placed in the seal. The item is repaired as part of the ritual. Negative enchantment is also fixed, but a negatively enchanted item is not sufficient for the ritual to proceed, the item must also be eroded.

Astaroth's ritual is different when binding him into the Pen of the Void. In the Pen's ritual, the Pen itself must be rusty or corroded.

Taboo

You must not deliberately break inventory items. Breaking non-inventory items such as doors and iron bars is permissible. Fired ammunition mulching counts as deliberately broken.

Mark

You weep tears of black oil.

Your tears can be easily seen from a distance, so you must wear a blindfold, towel, or a mask to keep them hidden.

Immunity

While Astaroth is bound to you:

• You have shock resistance.
• You are breathless.

Skill

Astaroth grants skill in crossbows and shuriken.

Active Powers

• Astaroth's Assembly: Projects an invisible beam up to 5 spaces in the chosen direction. A electrical explosion centers on the first target struck. This explosion loses 1 die of damage per square traveled, causing a maximum of 5 dice of damage when centered in an adjacent square, and a minimum of 1 die of damage when centered in a square 5 spaces away. You gain 1 point of protection as per the spell for each square that the beam travels without exploding, to a maximum of 5 points. 1 point of this protection wears off every 5 turns.
• Astaroth's Shards: Fires a barrage of shuriken along random ranks. The barrage consists of shuriken equal to your die size + your level/10 + 1. You take damage equal to your die size. The barrage may be concentrated by activating it while standing in a corridor or other narrow space.

Passive Powers

• Rusting: You take 1 damage per turn from being underwater.

Balam, the Last Sacrifice

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?

[Psalm 22]

Binding Ritual

Balam's seal must be drawn on an icy square. You must wield a weapon when addressing Balam.

Taboo

You must not sacrifice intelligent creatures.

Mark

Freezing water leaks from deep wounds in your wrists, ankles, and neck.

Balam's mark can be seen at a distance, and is harder to disguise up close. A cloak or torso armor is sufficient at a distance, but up close you will also require gloves and boots to disguise it.

Immunity

You gain half spell damage.

Skill

Balam grants skill in whips.

Active Powers

• Icy Glare: Deals 5 dice of ice damage to the first target in the indicated direction, and half damage to all targets in a ~90 degree wedge centered on the chosen direction. Blinds you for 5 turns. Also freezes water in the wedge. This power's range is 1 square/2 levels.
• Balam's Anointing: Makes a touch attack (requiring a to-hit roll) against a single adjacent creature. Target takes 5 dice of cold damage. A target with a head and without thick skin may be killed outright (10% chance). A target with a head, eyes, and thick skin instead takes double damage and is blinded. Otherwise, this power has no extra effect.

Passive Powers

• Balam's Martyrdom: When you have DR above 10, you roll twice for DR when hit.

Berith, the Red Horseman

From Baal: God, and Berith: Covenant. The name of a deity worshiped in ancient Canaan, reviled as a demon by the early Israelites, and later the Christians.

Binding Ritual

Berith requires that his seal be drawn around a set of riding gloves, riding boots, a saddle, a saber, a longsword, a bow, or a lance.

Alternatively, the binder must wear a blessed silver ring on their left hand while chatting to the seal.

Taboo

You must not kill a pet or former pet.

Mark

You appear drenched in blood, as does your mount (if any).

The blood can be easily seen from a distance. If you wear torso armor, gloves, boots, and a helm the red color will take the form of enamel, rather than blood. You must dismount from your steed, however.

Immunity

Your mount (if any) benefits from some of your resistances. Resistances to fire, cold, shock, poison, acid, sleep, disintegration, stoning, drain, magic, death (ala Ose), and sickness are carried over. Notably, reflection is not.

Skill

Berith grants skill in lances, sabers, riding, and shields. He also increases your BAB to full (i.e. +1 to-hit per level), and makes you regenerate health twice as fast as normal.

Active Powers

• Blood Mercenary: Fires an invisible beam dealing 5 dice of damage in a chosen direction. Damage is non-elemental, but must be financed by your visible gold; i.e., you lose gold equal to the total damage dealt by this attack.
• Sow Discord: Monsters on the level attack each other for 5 turns + your die size.

Passive Powers

• Blood-price: Monsters may drop gold instead of corpses.

Buer, who walks all places

Who are you, and where are you going?

Binding Ritual

There are no restrictions or requirements to bind Buer.

Taboo

You must not use death magic (wands of death and finger of death)

Mark

Your legs bifurcate into four cloven hooved feet.

Your strange feet can be seen from a distance, but they can be hidden by wearing boots.

Immunity

You gain extra health regeneration, approximately 6 * spirit die size hp per 90 turns. This is affected by a lit Atma Weapon as normal.

Skill

Buer grants skill in healing spells and martial arts. Binding Buer once will permanently teach you martial arts.

Active Powers

• Gift of Healing: Heal single adjacent target of 5 dice of damage. May also be used to heal yourself. Is perhaps best used to keep your pets alive, as monster healing is MUCH slower than PC healing (1 hp per 20 turns).
• Gift of Health: Clear most status ailments from single target. On yourself, cures sickness, blindness (including cream), hallucination, vomiting, confusion, stun, and wounded legs, in addition to restoring abilities as a blessed potion.

Passive Powers

• Keen Nose: You gain food appraisal.

Chupoclops the Hope-trapper

“The Eldar knew not whence she came; but some have said that in ages long before she descended from the darkness that lies about Arda, when Melkor first looked down in envy upon the Kingdom of Manwë, and that in the beginning she was one of those that he corrupted to his service. But she had disowned her Master, desiring to be mistress of her own lust, taking all things to herself to feed her emptiness”

[ The Silmarillion, Of the Darkening of Valinor ]

“Of the fate of Ungoliant no tale tells. Yet some have said that she ended long ago, when in her uttermost famine she devoured herself at last.”

[ The Silmarillion, Of the Flight of the Noldor ]

Binding Ritual

Chupoclops requires that her seal be drawn around a corpse of your race, or a grave.

Taboo

You must not engrave wards.

Mark

You grow a pair of chelicerae in your mouth.

The chelicerae can't be seen from a distance, and may by hidden up close by wearing a mask to hide your mouth.

Immunity

You are immune to sleep and being trapped in a web.

Skill

Chupoclops grants skill in knives.

Active Powers

• Throw Webbing: Throw a ball of webbing in a chosen direction.

Passive Powers

• Poisonous Bite: You gain a 2d4 poisonous bite attack.
• Grave Eater: You can eat tainted corpses safely.
• Aura of Despair: Monsters move somewhat slower near you. If a monster is within 5 squares, they lose (your level)/10+1 movement points.
• Ethereal Strike: When attacking, your hits ignore armor and can always hit intangible foes (shades, sharab kamerel, etc.)

Dantalion, Star Emperor

The Seventy-first Spirit is Dantalion. He is a Duke Great and Mighty, appearing in the Form of a Man with many Countenances, all Men's and Women's Faces; and he hath a Book in his right hand. His Office is to teach all Arts and Sciences unto any; and to declare the Secret Counsel of any one; for he knoweth the Thoughts of all Men and Women, and can change them at his Will.

[ The Lesser Key of Solomon ]

Binding Ritual

Dantalion's seal must be drawn around a throne.

Taboo

You must not destroy thrones (including by having them "disappear in a puff of logic" after sitting on them).

Mark

You grow extra faces on your chest.

The faces can be seen from a distance, so you must wear a shirt, torso armor, or a cloak. Crystal plate mail is transparent and does not help.

Immunity

As long as your extra faces are uncovered, you are immune to blindness.

Skill

Dantalion grants skill in two-handed swords, broadswords, and scimitars.

Active Powers

• Thought Travel: Teleport to chosen creature you can currently sense telepathically. Works like covetous warping, e.g. warps next to chosen creature, bypassing noteleport levels. This power is blocked on the Astral Plane, and also cannot be used to get in or out of the Wizard's Tower directly.
• Dread of Dantalion: Cause all non-unique monsters in line-of-sight to flee from you. This does not check MR.

Passive Powers

• Read Thoughts: Gain a to-hit bonus against creatures you can sense telepathically.
• Telepathy: You benefit from extrinsic telepathy (similar to a helm of telepathy).
• Perfect Strikes: You add your Intelligence bonus to attacks made, along with any Strength or Dexterity bonus. This bonus applies to all attacks, even ones that wouldn't normally get attribute-based bonus damage.

Echidna, Mother of Monsters

The goddess fierce Echidna who is half a nymph with glancing eyes and fair cheeks, and half again a huge snake,[1] great and awful, with speckled skin, eating raw flesh beneath the secret parts of the holy earth. And there she has a cave deep down under a hollow rock far from the deathless gods and mortal men. There, then, did the gods appoint her a glorious house to dwell in: and she keeps guard in Arima beneath the earth, grim Echidna, a nymph who dies not nor grows old all her days.

[ Theogony, by Hesiod ]

Binding Ritual

Echidna can only be contacted in caves, such as the Gnomish Mines or the Lost Cities.

Taboo

You must not throw or eat eggs.

Mark

Your legs become serpents' tails.

Your odd legs can be seen from a distance, so you must wear boots and a cloak or torso armor to disguise them.

Immunity

You are immune to acid. In addition, you gain the thick-skinned attribute.

Skill

Echidna grants skill with unicorn horns.

Active Powers

• Echidna's Venom: Spit acid in the chosen direction. The glob of acid deals 5 dice of damage to the struck target, and requires a to-hit roll.
• Lullaby: Attempt to tame chosen adjacent monster. Monsters must not be mindless and must be an animal or monstrous (snake-like or have no hands).

Passive Powers

• Squamous: Your AC and DR are granted bonuses based on your Constitution. You get a (Constitution-10)/2 bonus to AC, and a 2+(Constitution-9)/4 bonus to DR. These bonuses cannot be negative.
• Acid Blood: Monsters that attack you in melee take 1 dice of acid damage.
• Mother of Monsters: Pets follow you more closely.
• Monstrous Claws: Doubles the size of unarmed damage dice (d2 to d4 with bare-handed combat, or d4 to d8 with martial-arts). Is superseded by half-dragon claws and does not stack. Only applies when not wearing gloves.

Eden, the First Garden

So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Binding Ritual

Eden's seal must be drawn in a square with a fountain.

Taboo

You must not destroy trees or fountains.

Mark

A dome of cerulean crystal is embedded in the crown of your head. A garden can be seen through the crystal.

The dome can be seen from a distance if you are tiny or smaller. It can be seen up close unless you are large or larger. Any hat or helm can be used to cover the dome.

Immunity

You gain reflection. This does not reflect dragonbreath, except disintegration breath.

Skill

Eden grants skill in long swords.

Active Powers

• Purifying Blast: Powerful multi-hit attack. Deals 10 dice of damage with a 25 square knockback, followed by a 10d fireball fired along the same line. The blast must charge for 5 turns after the direction is specified, during which the character is immobile. While the character is immobile, their AC is improved by 7 points.
• Recall to Eden: Attempts to remove 1 adjacent target from the game. Probability of success is based on your relative HP totals. You will recover some HP if the attack succeeds, but you will not gain XP for the kill, and much of the monster's inventory will disappear with it.
• Stargate: Branchport. Drains your energy. This must charge for 5 turns, during which the character is immobile. While the character is immobile, their AC is improved by 7 points.

Passive Powers

• Silver Hull: Your body sears silver-hating creatures that attack you in melee with their bare skin/body for 1d20 damage. Your bare-handed punches, bare-footed kicks, and bare-headed headbutts (i.e. without worn gloves, boots, or helm, respectively) against silver-hating creatures sear them for 1d20 damage. If you are a silver-hater (e.g. a vampire), your silver vulnerability is removed. If you are an unholy-hater, you do not take unholy damage from black-star rapiers specifically (this may be a bug).

Enki, God of the First City

The main temple to Enki is called E-abzu, meaning "abzu temple" (also E-en-gur-a, meaning "house of the subterranean waters"), a ziggurat temple surrounded by Euphratean marshlands near the ancient Persian Gulf coastline at Eridu. He was the keeper of the divine powers called Me, the gifts of civilization. His image is a double-helix snake, or the Caduceus, very similar to the Rod of Asclepius used to symbolize medicine. He is often shown with the horned crown of divinity dressed in the skin of a carp.

Considered the master shaper of the world, god of wisdom and of all magic, Enki was characterized as the lord of the Abzu (Apsu in Akkadian), the freshwater sea or groundwater located within the earth. In the later Babylonian epic Enûma Eliš, Abzu, the "begetter of the gods", is inert and sleepy but finds his peace disturbed by the younger gods, so sets out to destroy them. His grandson Enki, chosen to represent the younger gods, puts a spell on Abzu "casting him into a deep sleep", thereby confining him deep underground. Enki subsequently sets up his home "in the depths of the Abzu." Enki thus takes on all of the functions of the Abzu, including his fertilising powers as lord of the waters and lord of semen.

[ Wikipedia ]

Binding Ritual

Enki's seal must be drawn in the center of at least a 5x5 open space.

Taboo

You must not refuse any seduction attempts, although you can use an engagement ring to ward them off.

Mark

Water runs off your body in steady rivulets.

The water can be seen from a distance, so wear either a cloak or torso armor to disguise it.

Immunity

Enki protects your inventory from water damage.

Skill

Enki grants skill in short swords, hammers, sling, dart, and boomerang. He also increases your BAB to 3/4 (i.e. +0.75 to-hit per level). He permanently teaches you how to swim after binding him once.

Active Powers

• Walker of Thresholds: Teleport to a chosen doorway.
• Geyser: Summon a geyser from the abzu against a chosen target. Tries to make a to-hit roll, if it passes deals 8 dice of damage, otherwise deals 1d5 dice of damage. Also wets inventories. Targets wearing water walking boots are resistant.

Passive Powers

• City-Dweller: Grants +2 speed when there are least 4 monsters nearby, and +4 speed when at least 8 monsters are nearby.
• Alley-Fighter: +1 AC per adjacent wall
• Fruits of Civilization: Eating non-corpse prepared food (slime molds don't count, but rations do) heals you by the amount of nutrition gained, drinking booze heals you by your level*10. Clockwork Automatons may drink potions of booze and are affected by it normally while Enki is bound.

Eurynome, the Lonely Dancer

In the beginning, Eurynome,
The Goddess of All Things,
Rose naked from Chaos.

She found nothing upon
Which to rest her feet, and thus,
She divided the sea from the sky.

She danced lonely upon
The waves of the sea.

She danced towards the South, and
The Wind set in motion behind her
Seemed something new and strange
With which to begin a work of creation.

Wheeling about, she caught hold of
This North wind, rubbed it between
Her hands, and behold!
The great serpent Ophion.

[...]

Eurynome and Ophion made their home upon
Mount Olympus where he vexed her by
Claiming to be the author of the Universe.

Forthwith, she bruised his head with her heel,
Kicked out his teeth, and banished him to the
Dark caves below the Earth

[...]

She took joy in her creation, but soon found
Herself alone desiering the face, voice,
Ear and warmth of another of her own.

Eurynome stood up and once again
Began to dance alone upon the waves.

[ The Pelasgian Creation Myth by Dr. James Luchte,
  Adapted from Roberts Graves's The Greek Myths ]

Binding Ritual

Eurynome's seal must be drawn next to a pool of water or a moat. When you #chat to the seal you must face the water square across the seal.

Taboo

You must not skip a turn by resting with '.' Clockwork automatons are permitted to repair themselves with '.', but must be careful not to keep holding '.'

Mark

Your shadow becomes that of a dancing nymph.

Your dancing shadow can be seen from a distance if you are standing in a lit square. It can still be seen up close if you're standing in a dark square that is illuminated by a light source.

Immunity

You gain free action and water walking.

Skill

Eurynome grants skill in unarmed combat. She also increases your BAB to full (i.e. +1 to-hit per level), but only when wielding no weapon in your main hand.

Active Powers

• Vengeance: Damage all adjacent creatures that have damaged you with their attacks, dealing 5 dice of damage.
• Shape the Wind: Creates a number of temporary pets. These pets vanish after five turns.

Passive Powers

• Retaliation: Creatures that attack you may provoke two barehanded counterattacks, using your barehanded combat modifiers, regardless of your wielded weapons. The odds of this happening is 20%, with a maximum of one time per round.
• Water Dancer: You gain increased speed while on water. It's 33% faster than floor with no speed bonus, 15% faster than floor with intrinsic speed, and 7.5% faster with extrinsic speed.
• Form Dancer: Your unarmed attacks use randomly sized exploding dice. Your die sizes are increased up to 2*d5 + 2*multiplier. Your multiplier is always 0 if you're not a martial artist, 3 if you're a half-dragon, 2 if you have Echidna also bound and are not wearing gloves, and 1 for other martial artists. Wearing the Great Claws of Urdlen increases your multiplier by 2. This means a non-martial artist will have die sizes of d2-d10, and a normal martial artist will have die sizes of d4-d12, re-rolling the size on every attack made. If the size rolled is lower than your normal (without Eurynome bound) die size, your normal die size will be used instead. Also has a 1/2 chance of adding slashing damage to your unarmed attacks, a separate 1/2 chance of adding piercing damage, and a 1/3 chance of removing blunt damage if slashing or piercing damage was added.

Eve, the First Sinner

And Eve lived to be older than any woman;
who, in the end, did not die, but who
retreated to her cave. Blamed for Sin.
For Misery. For the Fall.

[“The Parliament Of Rooks”, Neil Gaiman]

Binding Ritual

Eve's seal must be drawn next to a tree, which the binder must face during the ritual.

Taboo

You must not eat fruit while bound to Eve.

Mark

You bear bloody wounds on your feet and stomach.

The wounds can be seen from a distance, and can be hidden with boots and a cloak.

Immunity

You take half physical damage.

Skill

Eve grants skill in scythes, sickles, and bows.

Active Powers

• Barrage: Fire a large number of projectiles. The barrage consists of the maximum number of projectiles you could multishoot, plus 1/10 your level.
• Thorns and Stones: You create a small stack (1 die + 1d5) of ammunition for your currently wielded ranged weapon. You take damage equal to your die size.

Passive Powers

• Harvester: Your attacks deal double damage to plants.
• Hunter-gatherer: Creatures are more likely to leave corpses (roll the corpse-chance twice), kicked trees yield half again more fruit.

Fafnir, Jotunn Dragon

Binding Ritual

Fafnir's binding ritual must be performed in a vault, or his seal must contain 1000 gold pieces per level.

Taboo

You must have at least 1 gold in your open inventory at all times (including immediately after the binding ritual, so don't drop ALL your gold on his seal!). Note: this means you must be able to dig or teleport out of the vault. The guard will otherwise demand all the money in your open inventory, and you will be forced to drop it (breaking the seal).

Mark

There is a ring-shaped burn scar on your right ring-finger.

The burn can only be seen close up, and can be covered by wearing gloves or a ring on your right finger.

Immunity

Fafnir confers fire resistance.

Skill

Fafnir grants skill with pick-axes.

Active Powers

• Breath Poison: Creates a stinking cloud centered at the chosen location
• Ruinous Strike: Digs out and untraps target adjacent square, or moderately damages target adjacent nonliving creature, or destroys target adjacent golem.

Passive Powers

• Flame Aura: Inflicts one dice of fire damage on creatures that strike you in melee combat.
• Infravision: You gain infravision.
• Dragon's Hoard: Your carrying capacity increases by 1% per xlvl.

Huginn and Muninn, Thought and Memory

In the High Hall of Gladsheim the Lord of the Aesir sits and waits for thought and memory to return to him. At his feet two wolves attend him. Lacking thought and memory, he could not even name them. The floor of the high hall is mud, scattered with rushes. He sits and waits, the gallows-god, the one-eyed king of Asgard.

There is a fluttering of wings. The ghost-birds return to his shoulder. And instantly he knows; he knows all they've seen. Huginn and Muninn: thought and memory. And he smiles, the lord of the gallows.

[ Sandman, by Neil Gaiman ]

Binding Ritual

Huginn and Muninn's seal may be drawn anywhere. The binding ritual reduces the binder's Int and Wis by one (though not below 3).

Taboo

Do not fall asleep or be subject to an amnesia attack.

Mark

You have a raven nesting in each ear.

The ravens can only be seen from close up, and wearing a helmet will cover them.

Immunity

Huginn and Muninn grant immunity to hallucination. They also grant immunity to one instance of sleep or amnesia (breaks taboo).

Skill

Huginn and Muninn grant skill with spears.

Active Powers

• Ravens' Talons: Permanently blinds single adjacent target, while dealing 1d5+5 dice of damage. Deals only 1d5 dice of damage against a blind or sightless target.

Passive Powers

• Gallows-Sense: Grants warning.
• Memory and Thought: Grants 25 int and wis for the duration of the binding.

Iris, Friend from Afar

"Where is everybody?"

Binding Ritual

The spirit's seal must be in a stinking cloud (it is not necessary for the cloud to be present while drawing the seal, nor for the binder to also be in the cloud).

Taboo

You must not look in a mirror. This includes seeing your reflection in a reflecting monster you attack. To prevent that, blind yourself before attacking those monsters.

Mark

The veins on your arms bulge and shine with rainbow iridescence. When you attack in melee, the flesh on your arms opens, and the rainbows form tentacles that lash your foe.

The veins and tentacles can be seen from a distance. As long as at least 5 turns have passed since you last attacked in melee, you need only torso armor or a cloak to hide the veins. If at least one turn has passed, you need a cloak to hide the tentacles. The tentacles can't be hidden in the first turn an attack is made.

Immunity

Iris grants resistance to disease.

Skill

Iris grants skill with morning stars.

Active Powers

• Horrid Wilting: You suck moisture out of a single adjacent target, dealing 5d(spirit dice) healing yourself for a like amount. Nonliving and anhydrous creatures are immune to this attack, but water elementals, fog clouds, and Illurien take double damage.
• Horrid Rainbow: You turn animals, humanoids, and humans near you (as turn undead). This freezes you for 5 turns.

Passive Powers

• Wilting Tentacles: You gain extra tentacle attacks, dealing 1d4 physical damage per hit. Struck creatures may be affected by Horrid Wilting (5% chance per hit). You make one tentacle attack to start, adding another if you're two-weaponing or wielding a two-handed weapon, and adding 2 if you have Miska's extra arms active.

Jack, of the Lantern

Once in the land of Eire, there lived a blacksmith by the name of Jack. Quick to the drink but short on paying for it, Jack had few friends and was known to curse a lovely day as often as a miserable one.

One night late, when all civil folk were home abed, Jack was at a pub near the crossroads outside his village. A stranger in a long coat and hat sat near. Hoping for sympathy, Jack moaned aloud that he would give his soul to the Devil if he had the money for one last drink. Quick as can be, the stranger beside him disappeared and close to Jack's hand lay the coins for his drink.

Now although Jack was a drinking man, he was also a clever man and he knew now that stranger was no mere man. Being the thinking man, Jack snatched the coins from the counter and pocketed them in his purse where he kept a small silver cross. Trapped by the silver cross, the stranger, who was actually the Devil in disguise, had to agree not to claim Jack's soul for another ten years in order to escape Jack's pocket.

Now time went by and as time does and Jack's ways never changed. Without family or friend, Jack contented himself walking about late after the pub had closed and one night, ten years hence, he came across the Devil himself on a dark country road.

The Devil reminded Jack of their bargain and Jack, still not eager to leave life, agreed to go if the Devil would feed his terrible hunger with an apple from a nearby tree. Hopping upon Jack's shoulder's, the Devil hoisted himself into the tree to get the apple. Quickly Jack took his small knife and carved a cross in the tree. Now as we all know, the Devil has no power in the air and was trapped in the tree by the cross on its trunk. This time Jack made the Devil promise never to come for him again. Having no choice, the Devil agreed.

Some years later, Jack did meet his natural end. Because of his miserly and drinking ways, he was denied entrance to Heaven. The Devil himself turned him away at the entrance to Hell because he had promised years before never to take his soul. As the night was dark and the wind was howling, Jack begged the Devil for light to find his way. The Devil threw him an ember from the very fires of hell and Jack kept it lit inside a bit of rotten turnip that he found.

Ever since then, Jack has wandered the night with his wee lantern. He was seen from time to time, and still is, a bobbing light in the darkness, on windy nights out on the moors or along lonely country roads. He became known as "Jack-of-the Lantern," and over time just "Jack-o-Lantern."

[ Stingy Jack, retold by C. Austin ]

Binding Ritual

Jack's seal must be drawn outside of Gehennom and the planes.

Taboo

You must not enter Gehennom or the planes.

Additionally, you must not die (see Immunity).

Mark

An old, old man rides on your back.

The man can be seen from a distance, but can be covered by a cloak.

Immunity

You are protected from death (as an Amulet of Life Saving). Dying drains a level from the broken pact.

Skill

None.

Active Powers

• Hellfire blast: Creates a moderately-damaging explosion of fire centered on the chosen square. Requires you to wield a lit potion of oil, oil lamp, or lightsaber.
• Refill lantern: Add some fuel to a wielded oil lamp or lightsaber.

Passive Powers

• None

Malphas, Prince of Crows

The Thirty-ninth Spirit is Malphas. He appeareth at first like a Crow, but after he will put on Human Shape at the request of the Exorcist, and speak with a hoarse Voice. He is a Mighty President and Powerful. He can build Houses and High Towers, and can bring to thy Knowledge Enemies’ Desires and Thoughts, and that which they have done. He giveth Good Familiars. If thou makest a Sacrifice unto him he will receive it kindly and willingly, but he will deceive him- that doth it. He governeth 40 Legions of Spirits, and his Seal is this, etc.

[ The Lesser Key of Solomon ]

Binding Ritual

Malphas's seal must be drawn around a fresh (sacrificeable) corpse.

Taboo

You must not harm crows. (ie, you must hold to pacifist conduct with respect to crows).

Mark

Numerous crow beaks appear in your mouth.

The beaks can only be seen from up close. They can be hidden with a mask.

Immunity

Malphas grants immunity to punishment and the penalties for murder.

Skill

Malphas grant skill in beast mastery.

Active Powers

• Call Murder: Summons a tame crow. The crow's level is based on your level.

Passive Powers

• Murderer: +2 AC and to-hit for each adjacent crow.
• One of the Flock: When a tame crow eats a corpse, you gain the same amount experience you would've gained from killing the monster, even if you killed it in the first place.

Marionette, Puppet of Screams

We are all puppets of death

We dance

We sing

Until we cut the strings…

[ Dance of Death, Underworld Dolls ]

Binding Ritual

Marionette requires that her seal be drawn in the Valley of the Dead or in a graveyard.

Taboo

You must not quaff holy water or remove curses.

Mark

Metal wires sprout from your elbows and the backs of your knees.

The wires can be seen from a distance, but will merge with metallic torso armor.

Immunity

You are immune to stoning.

Skill

Marionette grants skill with axes and matter spells.

Active Powers

• Root Shout: Fires a beam of force in the chosen direction, dealing (d5)d(spirit dice) damage. The beam digs through walls as a wand of digging.
• Yank Wires: Flings you in the chosen direction (As a thrown heavy iron ball). Should be used with great care around water and other hazardous terrain, or when stuck in a bear trap.

Passive Powers

• Marionette Shadow: Your melee weapon attacks also target the square behind your target.
• Marionette's Edge: Your melee weapons have their die sizes increased by 2 when attacking non-adjacent targets.
• Root Fingers: You can destroy stuck boulders by trying to push them.

Mother, who beheld beauty

I rolled my wheelchair over to the bookcase and pulled down the battered medical encyclopedia that I'd
had for years. The book was maddeningly vague. It could have been anything, or nothing. I leaned back and closed my eyes. I could hear the old ship's clock ticking on the shelf across the room.

There was the high, thin drone of a jet on its way to Miami. There was the soft whisper of my own breath.

I was still looking at the book.

The realization crept on me, then sank home with a frightening rush. My eyes were closed, but I was still looking at the book. What I was seeing was smeary and monstrous, the distorted, fourth-dimensional counterpart of a book, yet unmistakable for all that.

And I was not the only one watching.

[ I am the doorway, by Stephen King ]

Binding Ritual

The Great Mother must be addressed while blind.

Taboo

You must not genocide any monsters.

Mark

You develop eyes on your hands.

The eyes can be seen from a distance, and can be covered with gloves or a mummy wrapping.

Immunity

Mother grants magic resistance and clairvoyance.

Skill

Mother grants skill in divination magic.

Active Powers

• Disgusted Gaze: One chosen target is struck by lightning, dealing 5d(spirit dice) shock damage. You must not be wearing non-crystal gloves or a mummy wrapping. If the target is nearby, it may be paralyzed. Drops currently wielded weapon, and if you are two-weaponing your offhand as well. Grants an extra move.

Passive Powers

• Evaluate: Gives an indication of the HP of living creatures.

Naberius, mysterious councilor

The Twenty-fourth Spirit is Naberius. He is a most valiant Marquis, and showeth in the form of a Black Crane, fluttering about the Circle, and when he speaketh it is with a hoarse voice. He maketh men cunning in all Arts and Sciences, but especially in the Art of Rhetoric. He restoreth lost Dignities and Honours. He governeth 19 Legions of Spirits. His Seal is this, which is to be worn, etc.

[ The Lesser Key of Solomon ]

Binding Ritual

Naberius must be addressed by one with at least 14 Int and Wis, while confused or having drunk at least one potion of booze per level.

Taboo

You must have drunk at least one potion of booze per three levels in order to keep Naberius bound. Drinking more than 3 potions of booze per level will not be counted in your drunkenness score, and will thus not help keep Naberius bound (nor be as useful for restoring Sanity).

Mark

Your tongue becomes forked.

Your forked tongue can only be seen up close, and wearing a mask can hide your mouth.

Immunity

Naberius grants see invisible.

Skill

Naberius grants skill in attack spells and quarterstaff.

Active Powers

• Bloody Tongue: Causes chosen single adjacent monster to flee. Does not count as a hostile act.
• Silver Tongue: Attempts to tame chosen single adjacent monster. Note that the cap of 1 pet per 3 points of Cha applies. Excess pets will quickly untame.

Passive Powers

• Crimson Fangs: Adds an extra 1d6 bite to your attacks. This attack heals you by d8 when used on a fleeing target, or stun and confuse a peaceful target.
• Rhetoric of Magic: Naberius enhances spellcasting. Explosions are larger (5x5), rays are longer (2x), and spells do more damage (+50%). This stacks with double spell damage ala the Magic Mirror of Merlin.
• Arts and Sciences: Naberius causes all skills to be treated as at least basic, even if restricted. This includes lightsaber forms.

Orthos, Sovereign of the Howling Dark

In the dark there is something that will always be a shade darker than the lightless black, as though it drew back the night like a curtain. That thing can be heard, even across the inconceivable gulf that separates the place of the vestiges and the known Multiverse. The faintest whisper suggests a howl as maddening as it is endless.

[ Blade of Innocence, by Sciborg ]

Binding Ritual

Othos's seal must be drawn in front of a square with a hole, such that the Binder is facing the hole across the seal when attempting to bind the spirit.

Taboo

You must not be in the dark while blind or not carrying a light. Having Darkvision will keep Orthos bound. There is also a grace penalty of a few turns before the spirit is unbound.

Mark

Strange winds tug on your clothes.

The motion of your clothes can be seen from a distance. Do not wear a cloak, other than a mummy wrapping, to stay disguised.

Immunity

Orthos grants disintegration resistance.

Skill

Orthos grants the musicalize skill.

Active Powers

• Exhalation of the Rift: You exhale a line of wind in the chosen direction. The line is three squares wide, and struck targets are knocked back. Targets in the center of the line take 5d(spirit dice) damage, targets along the edges take (d5)d(spirit dice) damage.

Passive Powers

• Flickering outline: You gain displacement.
• Void Sight: You gain astral vision.

A user has suggested improving this page or section as follows:

"Orthos causes difficulties with sanity recovery; how should this be noted?"

Ose, Dreamer in a Drowned City

Long, long ago, before your ancestors had discovered flint or fire or songs, my people were already climbing the great heights of civilization. Settling on an island in the midst of the lonely seas, we raised a great city to the stars.

...But Time sweeps away all things, and that shining city has long since drowned beneath the uncaring ocean.

Binding Ritual

In most of the dungeon, Ose's seal must be drawn underwater, and can only be addressed by a submerged binder. The water is drained away as part of the ritual.

The seal may be drawn and used on dry land in the Lost Cities.

Taboo

You must not fall into water.

Mark

Your gaze carries tangible weight.

The force of your gaze can be felt from a distance. Blind yourself, or wear a metallic helm that is not a helm of telepathy. For all players except Wizards and Incantifiers, a cornuthaum will work as well.

Immunity

Ose grants immunity to death effects.

Skill

Ose grants skill with tridents.

Active Powers

• Querient Thoughts: You release a blast of psychic static that damages all telepathic monsters on the level, and may damage other monsters (20% chance per monster).
• Great Leap: You level teleport, losing 625 nutrition in the process.

Passive Powers

• Plain Leap: You can jump.
• Maddening Thoughts: You gain a bonus to certain weapons based on your insight, as if you were a Madman. The insight-gated effects of your mercurial weapons are enabled (if you have sufficient insight), regardless of your alignment.
• Opened Mind: You cast spells using your Charisma score.

Otiax, the Key to the Gate

Rhian stood within a circle of protection made from powdered diamonds. The hairs on her goose-bump speckled skin stood on end, the energy of wards and bufferings making her clenched teeth hum. Seed magic, beyond the arcane ability of almost all sorcerers and wizards. She could survive dragons, giants, waves of entropy, or even the stress of warping space-time.

Yet she was afraid, as were all of the conjurers in their own diamond circles that surrounded a larger circle which circumscribed her own along with a red-black blood-painted circle of binding. She could see it on their faces, even those demented alienists who were in truth prisoners barred from leaving the School's grounds. They seemed to be confounded that anyone might claim rulership over the Far Realms, yet rather than disdain their faces showed a newly minted fear of the plane they'd given themselves over to.

[...]

Two binders of Otiax shifted uncomfortably, throwing glances at the locked iron doors that led out of this vast summoning chamber. The Key to the Gate, a vestige believed to have some connection to the Far Realm, would perhaps provide some revelations of its own to this event. It seemed dangerous and Thaakir had proclaimed their presence the very epitome of mages' obsession with knowledge leading to their downfall. But it had been Rhian who had calmed him. She sensed, in a way that no one else could, that the vestiges would not let her come to harm. Their need for her, palpable across realities, ensured their lack of betrayal.

She felt breath on her shoulder, and could feel a presence behind her though unseen. A dream of a locked gate seemed to become real but only for her. She knew that if she turned, she would see the seal of Otiax upon the golden bars.

[ Blade of Innocence, Sciborg ]

Binding Ritual

Otiax's seal must be drawn in a doorway, and the door closed prior to addressing the seal.

Taboo

You must not lock doors, nor kick down an unlocked door.

Mark

You are surrounded by a thin mist. Reaching tendrils form from this mist to attack your foes.

Your mist tendrils can be seen from a distance, and the mist around you remains formed into tendrils for 5 turns after you make a tendril attack.

Immunity

None.

Skill

None.

Active Powers

• Open: Opens a door in any solid surface, regardless of whether there was actually a door there. Against monsters, this requires a to-hit roll (as a touch attack if you are wearing armor-phasing gloves or have Chupoclops bound, otherwise a claw attack) and an MR roll (as a spell) and deals 5*1d5 dice of damage with a 1/10 chance of instantly killing them by releasing their innards. Against monsters with undifferentiated innards, only deals 1d5 dice of damage and cannot instantly kill them. Unsolid monsters, skeletons, and monsters with removed innards or no innards are completely immune.

Passive Powers

• Tendrils: You make extra mist tendril attacks as part of your attack routine. You make the lesser of your die size and d5 tendril attacks, each dealing 1d5 damage. Each attack also has a 10% chance of stealing an item from the target.
• Fingers of Mist: You have automatic searching.
• Concealing Mist: 20% of melee attacks directed at you automatically miss.
• Mist Key: Can use #force to use the mist fingers to unlock doors/containers.
• Key to the Gate: Required to be bound to perform the invocation as a Binder.

Paimon, the Fell Archivist

Paymon is a king of hell who governs 200 legions, half of them from the Angelic Order, and half from the Order of Powers. He appears as a man with a woman’s face riding a dromedary, and crowned with a headdress made with precious stones.

[ Dictionnaire Infernal by Collin de Plancy (1863) ]

Binding Ritual

Paimon requires that her seal be drawn around a spellbook. The summoner must face toward the northwest during the ritual, so that they are standing southeast. Note that summoning Paimon will consume the spellbook.

Taboo

You must not read scrolls while confused.

Mark

A crown floats above your head.

The crown can be seen from a distance. Wearing a helmet will cause the crown to seem supported.

Immunity

Paimon grants MC 3 and hungerless casting ala wizards (50% cost at int 15, 25% cost at 16-19, and no cost for int >20).

Skill

Paimon grants skill in wand damage.

Active Powers

• Read Spell: Read a spell from a wielded spellbook. You don't have to pay the energy cost, and there is no chance of spell failure.
• Book Telepathy: Detect spellbooks on the current level.

Passive Powers

• Lives to Pages: Targets struck with a wielded spellbook may lose a level, returning a reading to the book (10% chance per hit).
• Power of Learning: When wielding a spellbook as a weapon, it deals damage equal to your power damage die plus the spellbook's level. For example, a 14th level binder wielding a spellbook of fireball deals 1d5+4 damage. A 30th level binder with the same book deals 1d9+4 damage.
• Warning against magic: You gain warning against spellcasting monsters.
• Master Magician: You gain a bonus to spell failure chance equivalent to wearing a robe without metallic body armor. This bonus stacks with the bonus from an actual robe.

Shiro, the stone soldier

"I'm shocked. You're the first person who's ever spoken to me. I've been here for many years, waving my arms around and asking for help, but everyone ignores me and passes me by. It's 'cause I'm about as impressive as a stone, right? ...I'm used to it, though."
[ The Legend of Zelda, Majora's Mask ]

Binding Ritual

Shiro's seal must be drawn in a ring (a 3x3 box) of 8 stones.

Taboo

You must not wear a mummy wrapping while bound to Shiro.

Mark

You are invisible.

This will never cause negative effects, aside from shopkeepers refusing to let invisible characters into their shops.

Immunity

None

Skill

Shiro grants skill in polearms.

Active Powers

• Earth Swallow: Create a pit in target adjacent square, then throw a boulder into the pit. Can be used to cheat at Sokoban.

Passive Powers

• Stone Choir: Creatures you target in melee are also struck by a volley of 1d8 rocks from random directions. Each rock deals 1d6 blunt damage and uses the sling skill.
• As a stone: You are invisible and have stealth.

Simurgh, who roosts on the Tree of Life

If I were the rain that binds together the earth and the sky, who in all eternity will never mingle, would I be able to bind the hearts of people together?
[ Bleach, by Tite Kubo ]

The simurgh is depicted in Iranian art as a winged creature in the shape of a bird, gigantic enough to carry off an elephant or a whale. It appears as a peacock with the head of a dog and the claws of a lion - sometimes, however, also with a human face. The simurgh is inherently benevolent and unambiguously female.

"Si-", the first element in the name, has been connected in folk etymology to Modern Persian si ("thirty"). Although this prefix is not historically related to the origin of the name simurgh, "thirty" has nonetheless been the basis for legends incorporating that number - for instance, that the simurgh was as large as thirty birds or had thirty colours (siræng).

Iranian legends consider the bird so old that it had seen the destruction of the world three times over. The simurgh learned so much by living so long that it is thought to possess the knowledge of all the ages.

[ Wikipedia ]

Binding Ritual

Simurgh's seal must be drawn outdoors (windowless tower level 1, or some parts of quests).

Taboo

You must not fall through trap doors or holes.

Mark

You gain iron claws and prismatic feathers around your head.

Your claws and feathers can be seen from a distance. The feathers can be hidden with a helm and the claws with either gloves or a cloak.

Immunity

You are immune to falling through trap doors, pit traps, and holes - you can still deliberately use holes and trap doors with >, which unbinds Simurgh as noted above.

Skill

Simurgh grants skill in Enchantment magic.

Active Powers

• Unite the Earth and Sky: Creates a tree or fills a pit with water in the chosen adjacent square.
• Hook in the Sky: You rise through the ceiling (as a quaffed cursed potion of gain level). Doesn't work if you have the Amulet.
• Enlightenment: You benefit from enlightenment.

Passive Powers

• Lion's Claws/Iron Claws: The character's bare-handed attacks (i.e. without worn gloves) against iron-hating monsters deal 1dML damage, where ML is the defender's level.
• An attack is added to the character's attack chain. This applies a special effect, and then makes a physical claw attack for 1d6 damage.
  • The special effect has a ⁴⁄₅ chance of being Cold Iron Quills, which only affects iron-hating monsters, and deals 1d5 dice of damage with a size of ^ML⁄₂, where ML is the defender's level.
  • In the remaining ¹⁄₅ chance, the special effect is the radiant feather attack named Siræng's Radiance. First, if the target monster hates iron, they take 5dML damage, where ML is the defender's level. Second, it picks 5 random conditions from the following list, and for each one that applies to the target monster, it deals damage equal to a roll of the character's spirit die. It can pick the same condition more than once. Third, it stuns that monster if they lack blindness resistance.
    • The monster lacks fire resistance; the extra damage is treated as exploiting vulnerability to fire.
    • The monster lacks cold resistance; the extra damage is treated as exploiting vulnerability to cold.
    • The monster lacks disintegration resistance.
    • The monster is invisible.
    • The monster lacks shock resistance.
    • The monster lacks poison resistance.
    • The monster lacks acid resistance.
    • The monster lacks stoning resistance.
    • The monster lacks drain resistance.
    • The monster lacks immunity to sickness.
    • The monster is undead.
    • The monster is a fungus.
    • The monster has infravision.
    • The monster is large enough to block light as a boulder.
    • The monster is not unbreathing.
    • The monster is not incorporeal, insubstantial as a shade, or phasing.
    • The monster is whirly.
    • The monster is not mindless.

Tenebrous, the Demonic Shadow

None shall rest until my vengeance is complete. All who stand in my way shall face the wrath of that which was wrought in the ancient halls of the realm now known only for dust.

[ Dead Gods: Out of the Dark, by ]

Binding Ritual

Tenebrous's seal must be drawn in darkness. Tenebrous's seal is always generated on the spot where Orcus is killed.

Taboo

You must not spread light (e.g. zap or break a wand of light, or read a scroll of light).

Mark

Your shadow is unnaturally dark and pools close to you.

Your unnatural shadow can be seen from a distance. Don't stand in illuminated squares to keep the shadow hidden.

Immunity

Tenebrous grants immunity to life drain.

Skill

Tenebrous grants skill with maces.

Active Powers

• Damning Darkness: Damage all non-undead, non-demonic, non-drain resistant creatures (friend or foe) standing near the character (exact radius is level-dependent). Creatures in a lit square are heavily damaged (5 dice), creatures in a dark square are moderately damaged (1d5 dice). Makes the surrounding squares dark.
• Echos of the Last Word: Remove target adjacent non-unique life-drain resistant, non-genocidable, or demonic creature from the game. Teleports target adjacent unique life-drain resistant, non-genocidable, or demonic creature to a random dungeon level. Does NOT work on Dread Seraphs, and in fact will unbind Tenebrous when used on a Dread Seraph.
• Touch of the Void: Drain levels from target adjacent creature. Requires a to-hit roll.

Passive Powers

• Vital Sense: You sense all living things on the level.

Ymir, Lord of the Grassless Gap

There was, in times of old, when Ymir lived,
neither sea nor sand nor waves,
no earth, nor heaven above,
but a yawning gap, and grass nowhere.

From Ymir's flesh the earth was formed,
and from his bones the hills.
From Ymir's skull, the ice-cold sky,
and from his blood the sea.

Binding Ritual

Ymir's seal must be drawn around a rotting, poisonous corpse.

Taboo

You must not eat or sacrifice giants.

Mark

You begin to rot. This mark gets progressively worse the more time you have spent in the Mazes of Menace.

Your rot can be detected from a distance, but can be hidden with concealing clothing.

Immunity

Ymir grants immunity to poison.

Skill

Ymir grants skill with clubs.

Active Powers

• Poison Gaze: Deal 5 dice of damage to a single target creature with a poison-elemental gaze attack.
• Gap Step: You begin levitating. The duration is equal to Ymir's remaining binding period, plus a 5 turn safety margin. You may also cease levitating at will by pressing '>'.

Passive Powers

• Footsteps of Giants: You can move over and pick up boulders as a giant.
• Poison-born: Quaff potions of sickness to heal.
• Putrescent Life: Ability score damage quickly heals.
• Formidable Stature: You count as one size higher for the purpose of wielding weapons.

The Two Spirits of the Gate

The following two spirits may only be bound by a Binder, even if their seals are found in bones. They both occupy a special slot that no other spirit occupies, so they are mutually exclusive only to each other. Both are intimately tied into the Binder Quest.

Dahlver-Nar, the First Binder

[...] Binder scholars know a different story—that Dahlver-Nar was a powerful cleric who forsook his deity to pursue the power of pact magic. The fabled teeth of Dahlver-Nar, to which all the legends attribute miraculous powers, were neither his own nor those of the dragon he battled. They were the teeth of beings that became vestiges after death, and they could grant abilities similar to those that the vestiges themselves imparted. Pact magic treatises relate that Dahlver-Nar pulled out his own teeth and replaced them with those of the vestiges, but that using them all drove him mad. What happened thereafter is a matter of debate, but the texts maintain that Dahlver-Nar eventually died, and the teeth were lost, divided up among the squabbling followers he had managed to gain and then spread across the world. Today, Dahlver-Nar exists as a vestige in his own right—perhaps brought to that state through his close association with so many others.

[ Tome of Magic, by Matthew Sernett et al. ]

Thirty-two horses on a red hill,
First they champ,
Then they stamp,
Then they stand still.

[ Adapted from the Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien ]

Binding Ritual

Dahlver-Nar can only be bound after gaining permission to go on the quest. Being given permission automatically (and silently) binds Dahlver-Nar.

Taboo

Binding Acererak expels Dahlver-Nar. Breaking this taboo does not drain a level, but you must still wait for the timeout to expire.

Mark

You have teeth under your skin. Wounds expose these teeth for all to see.

Any teeth that are showing can be seen from a distance. Wear concealing clothes or heal your injuries to disguise yourself.

Immunity

Dahlver-Nar grants sustain ability.

Skill

None.

Active Powers

• Moan: Frighten, confuse, and/or drive nearby creatures insane.

Passive Powers

• Teeth of the Devoured: Gain increased AC and unarmed attack damage as you lose HP.

Acererak, the Demi-Lich

Ages past, a human magic-user/cleric of sur-
passing evil took the steps necessaly to preserve his life force
beyond the centuries he had already lived, and this creature
became the lich, Acererak. Over the scores of years which fol-
lowed, the lich dwelled with hordes of ghastly servants in the
gloomy stone halls of the very hill where the Tomb is. Eventu-
ally even the undead life force of Acererak began to wane, so
for the next 8 decades, the lich’s servants labored to create the
Tomb of Horrors. Then Acererak destroyed all of his slaves and
servitors, magically hid the entrance to his halls, and went to
his final haunt, while his soul roamed strange planes unknown
to even the wisest of sages.

[ Tomb of Horrors, by Gary Gygax ]

Binding Ritual

Acererak can only be bound after destroying him on the quest.

Taboo

Binding Dahlver-Nar expels Acererak. Breaking this taboo does not drain a level, but you must still wait for the timeout to expire.

Mark

You have gemstones for eyes.

Your gemstone eyes can be seen from a distance. They can be hidden by any covering, even a pair of lenses.

Immunity

Acererak grants you weldproofing, preventing cursed equipment from welding to you. This does not protect against the other effects of cursed items.

Skill

None.

Active Powers

• Swallow Soul: You suck out and consume the soul of one adjacent living creature that doesn't resist draining and is of lower level than you. This will repair one lost level ala blessed full healing, or heal you for <monster's level>d4 hp if you are at max.

Passive Powers

• Speak with Dead: You can #chat to undead in order to pacify and fully heal them, as long as you are a higher level than them. You can also #chat to the corpses of non-animal, non-mindless creatures to hear rumors from them. These rumors have equal chances of being true or false. Hearing rumors this way has a cooldown of rnz(100) turns.
• Death Sense: You sense all undead on the level.

The Seven Spirits of Conflict

The following spirits are all acquired from the Alignment Quests in one form or another. Except for Nudzirath, they may only be learned and bound by Binders, even if the seal is found in bones. They all share a single slot, and thus are mutually exclusive with each other.

Cosmos, Goddess of Crystal

I´ll never forget. I promised you that.
Even if i stand to lose everything, i´ll preserve your memory for the tomorrows yet to be.
Come what may.
I could breathe my last breath, and the world be crumbling into oblivion.
There are ways to keep a thought alive.
And i know one that works for sure.
Indestructible crystal. Even in the sea of chaos, it never loses its shine.
I will become an eternal epitaph.
Your memory will survive for eternity within a crystal tomb.
This shall be my legacy, and my atonement.
But most of all...
MY FINAL HOPE.

[ Final Fantasy XIII-2 ]

Binding Ritual

Cosmos's seal must be drawn in a square containing a crystal ball. Cosmos's seal is found in the depths of The Black Crystal, acquired at the end of the Temple of Chaos.

Taboo

You must not bind another alignment quest spirit while bound to Cosmos. Breaking this taboo does not drain a level and has no timeout.

Mark

A large crystalline nimbus floats behind you.

The nimbus can be seen from a distance, and cannot be hidden in any way.

Immunity

None

Skill

None

Active Powers

• Crystal Memories: Summons a dead unique monster as a pet for 5 turns. Any unique killed is eligible and you may choose which one to summon. You are not immune to their passive effects necessarily, so if you summon Medusa you may turn to stone immediately.

Passive Powers

• Crystal Summons: Your pets will always follow you between levels, regardless of whether or not they are adjacent to you.
• Crystal Skein: You and your pets gain AC based on your binder die.
• Lawful Mask: You can handle lawful artifacts without them evading your grasp.
• Lawful Resonance: The Pen of the Void deals an extra 2d4 damage to chaotic targets and 1d4 damage to neutral targets. After you complete your quest, this damage is increased to 8d4 and 4d4 respectively.

Mediator, shard of the Living Gate

Shardminds are sentient fragments of the living Gate, which once stood at the pinnacle of the intricate lattice of the Astral Sea. Beyond that gate lay the alien Far Realm, and the gate's destruction during the Dawn War resulted in the rise of the mind flayer empire. Though Ioun's power holds the portal closed, shardminds seek to rebuild the gate and forever cut off the Far Realm's ability to influence the world.

Shardminds say that the Living Gate shattered into countless fragments, and each time an awakened shardmind is killed, another one somewhere in the universe stirs to consciousness.
[ Player's Handbook 3, D&D 4e]

Binding Ritual

Mediator's seal must have a worthless piece of glass on it when the ritual is performed. The seal is learned once all three Words of Creation have been recovered from Mithardir, and once Tenebrous has been bound at least once.

Taboo

You must not bind another alignment quest spirit while bound to Mediator. Breaking this taboo does not drain a level and has no timeout.

Mark

Broken rings of fragmentary glyphs form and dissolve in the dustlight behind you. This mark cannot be hidden in any way.

Immunity

None

Skill

None

Active Powers

• Pseudonatural Surge: When activated, paralyzes the user for 5 turns and begins an attack routine consisting of attacking all monsters within 2 tiles of you with tentacle attacks that have a ⁴⁄₅ of hitting. Free action will not prevent this paralysis. These tentacles deal 5d(spirit die) damage, skipping over monsters that would be too dangerous to attack, such as stoning monsters, or Pale Night.

Passive Powers

• Light of Balance: The HP of you and all your pets is pooled and shared between you. Your combined current HP and maximum HP are added up, and each individual ends up with the same HP percentage as the others. This effect is recalculated at the end of every turn, including both your and monster turns.
• Lawful Mask: You can handle lawful artifacts without them evading your grasp.
• Lawful Resonance: The Pen of the Void deals an extra 2d4 damage to chaotic targets and 1d4 damage to neutral targets. After you complete your quest, this damage increases to 8d4 and 4d4 respectively.

Telperion and Laurelin, the Two Trees

"A! the Trees of Light, tall and shapely,
gold and silver, more glorious than the sun"
[ The Flight of the Noldoli from Valinor, by J. R. R. Tolkien ]

Binding Ritual

The Two Trees must have their seal drawn adjacent to a tree or plant monster, and the Binder must be directly across the seal from it when the ritual is performed. The seal of The Two Trees is learned from the Shard of Morgoth's Crown, recovered from the depths of the Mordor Borehole.

Taboo

You must not bind another alignment quest spirit while bound to The Two Trees. Breaking this taboo does not drain a level and has no timeout.

Mark

Glorious dappled light dances on your body. This mark cannot be hidden in any way, except by being invisible.

Immunity

None

Skill

None

Active Powers

• Silver Dew: Heals an adjacent tame or peaceful monster by 5d(spirit die), curing sleeping as well. Used on an adjacent hostile monster, deals 5d20 silver (if silver-hating) and 5d(spirit die) damage. Non-silver hating and non-flaming amphibious monsters take no damage, while silver-hating or flaming ones do take the full damage.
• Golden Dew: Encourages an adjacent tame or peaceful monster by 5d(spirit die). Used on an adjacent hostile monster, deals 5d20 holy (if holy-hating) and 5d(spirit die) damage. Non-holy hating and non-flaming amphibious monsters take no damage, while holy-hating or flaming ones do take the full damage.

Passive Powers

• Lawful Mask: You can handle lawful artifacts without them evading your grasp.
• Lawful Resonance: The Pen of the Void deals an extra 2d4 damage to chaotic targets and 1d4 damage to neutral targets. After you complete your quest, this damage increases to 8d4 and 4d4 respectively.

Miska, the Wolf-Spider

A canvas's colors of blood and ichor soak the ground upon the fields of Pesh, mountains of corpses surrounding a creature whose body wavers between forms arachnid and lupine. Miska the Wolf-Spyder.

The wind dukes and their servants (slaves?) are falling, the former comets being doused and the latter as if a wind put darkens a field of candles. One duke is a pillar for the forces of Law and its allies, shining in its gorgeous androgyne nudity despite the vastness of Miska's shadow which flows through forms like quicksilver. In his hand is a simple black rod, elegant in its minimalism as befitting the nature of its orderly creators.

What happens next is unclear - those who might have recalled these moments better are lost even to the great powers shining their light on this ancient past. One of the wind dukes that was there before the tide of the demonic horde fell upon them is dead, his body torn by gaping but perfectly circular holes. One of the Vaati has speared the body of the Miska the Wolf-Spyder, who is in his drider like form, his eye-holes pouring out light that strangely resembles rotted gold.
[ Blade of Innocence, Sciborg ]

Stricken, Miska wailed in anguish, and his screams were so terrible that every soldier on the battlefield was briefly transfixed. As Miska writhed in agony, his foul blood covered and penetrated the Rod. As the absolute Law imbued in the Rod mingled with the Chaos in Miska's blood, the fabric of the multiverse was ripped asunder. The Rod shattered into seven pieces and Miska was cast through a planar rift. The hordes of Chaos surged to the scene, but the Rod bearer gathered up the fragments and dove through the rift, sealing it.
[ The Rod of Seven Parts, Skip Williams ]

Binding Ritual

Miska's seal must be drawn in front of a square containing lava. Miska's seal is found engraved on the Rod of Seven Parts, at the top of the Arcadian Tower.

Taboo

You must not bind another alignment quest spirit while bound to Miska. Breaking this taboo does not drain a level and has no timeout.

Mark

You have 4 arms, and a wolf's head sprouts from both hips.

Your distorted form can be seen from a distance, and cannot be disguised in any way, except for being invisible or being under level 10.

Immunity

None

Skill

Miska grants skill in two-weapon combat.

Active Powers

None

Passive Powers

• Miska's Form: Your distorted form grants you extra attacks, based on your level.
  • 10th level and above: A wolf head sprouts from your hip. You gain a poisonous bite attack, dealing 2d4 physical damage with a chance of poison.
  • 18th level and above: A second wolf head sprouts from your other hip. You gain a second poisonous bite attack.
  • 26th level and above: Two extra arms grow out of your back, granting you two additional weapon attacks. These attacks pick weapons or weapon-tools from your inventory and make a simple attack with them, as if you hit with it normally. Only one-handed items that could be normally held in your offhand are eligible, the weight of the eligible weapon is restricted by your two weapon skill and size. The first two eligible weapons in order of a-z then A-Z are chosen and used.
• Chaotic Mask: You can handle chaotic artifacts without them evading your grasp. The insight-gated effects of your mercurial weapons are enabled (if you have sufficient insight), regardless of your alignment.
• Chaotic Resonance: The Pen of the Void deals an extra 2d4 damage to lawful targets and 1d4 damage to neutral targets. After you complete your quest, this damage increases to 8d4 and 4d4 respectively.

Nudzirath, the Mirrored Destructor

In the center of the great rilmani city Sum of All, a building of strange angles stands, obviously not of rilmani construction. Ancient even amongst their number, the Mirrored Library once known as Timaresh holds untold amounts of lore from across the Multiverse.
[ Timaresh, the Mirrored Library, www.rilmani.org ]

Binding Ritual

Nudzirath's seal must be drawn in a square containing a non-artifact mirror. The mirror is destroyed as part of the ritual. The seal is found on the surface of the Hand-Mirror of Cthylla, located in place of The Silver Key in R'lyeh for Binders. It can also be learned from some of the rare neutral Outlands artifact spawns, including Infinity's Mirrored Arc, Sansara Mirror, the Staff of Twelve Mirrors, and the Mirrored Mask.

Nudzirath is the only Spirit of Conflict bindable by non-Binders, but they must have learned Nudzirath's seal from somewhere else to bind it successfully. Finding the seal in bones or elsewhere is not enough, as that will not teach it to non-Binders. The neutral Outlands artifacts will not teach the seal to non-Binders. Learning the seal is left as an exercise for the player.

Taboo

You must not bind another alignment quest spirit while bound to Nudzirath. Breaking this taboo does not drain a level and has no timeout.

Mark

A nimbus of tiny mirrored shards surrounds your head.

The nimbus can be seen from a distance, and cannot be hidden in any way.

Immunity

None

Skill

None

Active Powers

• Mirror Shatter: You must wield a mirror to use this power. Choose a direction. If there is a mirror on the ground or in a monster's open inventory in the chosen direction, both that mirror and the one you wield will explode, and a beam of mirror fragments connects the two mirrors. Both the beam and the explosions deal 5 dice of damage, plus 1d20 silver damage to silver-hating monsters. If a monster is caught in both explosions and the beam, it takes a total of 15 dice of damage plus 3d20. You can throw a mirror to activate this power where the mirror lands, if it's off cooldown.

Passive Powers

• Mirror Magic: 2x damage for beam and ray spells (as Knight with Magic Mirror of Merlin).
• Mirror Soul: Dead enemies drop mirrors with increased frequency. There is a ¹⁄₄ chance of one dropping from any enemy that would normally drop a corpse, and this does not replace the corpse or any other items.
• Fractured Heart: The luck penalty for breaking mirrors is inverted, so you gain +2 luck for every mirror shattered.
• Obsidian Shards: Thrown or fired obsidian weapons will explode wherever they land, causing 1d5 dice of damage. This stacks with the damage dealt by a thrown or fired obsidian weapon.
• Neutral Mask: You can handle neutral artifacts without them evading your grasp. This only works for Binders.
• Neutral Resonance: The Pen of the Void deals an extra 1d6 damage to chaotic and lawful targets. After you complete your quest, this damage increases to 4d6.

The Alignment Thing

It is called the Alignment Thing, and the Storm of Ideals. It is called Mother and Father. None of these phrases truly encapsulate what it is.

It is at once a creature, a planar layer, and a disturbance within the multi-dimensional matrix of Outside. It is a storm. It is an infection, bleeding astral pus. It is a parasite. It is another level of being. It is a community, a tribe, a memetic ecology, a multiverse in itself. It is bodiless mind. It is an endless sea of bodies. It is a war. It is love. It is sex. It is hunger. It is fear.

It is the accumulation of alien philosophies in the Realm Outside. It is Law, Chaos, Good, Evil, and Balance collected and reinterpreted, digested and recreated in the other, alien reality beyond space and time. Somehow, these forces have gained an altogether new sentience, neither unified nor separate, a great spiraling current around an unseen attractor. It is alive.

Like most living things, it seeks to grow and propagate itself. Therefore it seeks portals into the Great Wheel from which its original substance comes so that it may gather more of these thoughts so foreign to its dimension and so familiar to our own.

For this reason the Storm of Ideals is often the first layer encountered by those foolish enough to cross the veil of Eternity and explore the unfathomable Beyond.

A staggering variety of creatures inhabit and make up the substance of the Storm, each becoming stranger and more complex with every movement. The beings who make up the Thing continually exchange parts of their bodies and essence, never remaining the same for long. This is the current that fuels the Storm.

Any who touch the substance of the Alignment Thing assumes an alignment subtype - either Good, Evil, Lawful, Chaotic, or none. Sometimes more than one subtype is gained. This subtype is permanent, probably the only permanent thing an inhabitant of the Storm of Ideals will ever know again as everything from bones and sinew to spell-like or psi-like abilities are exchanged with those up and downstream. The possessor of this subtype need not live up to it in their deeds and actions, since the alien nature of that which bequeathed it understands these notions very poorly. However, most will be influenced by their subtype to some extent.

[ a layer of the far realms of insanity, by ripvanwormer ]

Binding Ritual

The Alignment Thing's seal may be drawn anywhere. The Alignment Thing's seal is found etched in parts onto the second of each set of Alignment Keys, and once a Binder has held each key once, the seal will be learned.

Taboo

You must not bind another alignment quest spirit while bound to the Alignment Thing. Breaking this taboo does not drain a level and has no timeout.

Mark

There's a small black halo just behind your head. There is an eye in the center, staring at you.

The halo can be seen up close, and cannot be disguised in any way.

Immunity

You aggravate monsters and have polymorph control.

Skill

None

Active Powers

• Flowing Forms: Polymorph yourself or a monster. This has a range of one square (so at yourself or adjacent). If nothing is targeted, does not go on cooldown. Monsters may resist as normal, as if you had cast a polymorph spell at them.

Passive Powers

• Alignment Mask: You can handle artifacts of all alignments without them evading your grasp.
• Alignment Resonance: The Pen of the Void randomly deals an extra 2d4, 1d4, or no extra damage to all targets (equal odds). After you complete your quest, this damage increases to 8d4, 4d4, or still no extra damage respectively.

The Unknown God

"To the Gods of Asia and Europe and Africa,
to the unknown and strange gods."
[ Inscription found on an altar at Athens, ~60AD ]

Binding Ritual

The Unknown God's seal may be drawn anywhere. The seal is learned after donating an artifact to all 5 Priests of an Unknown God, located in the depths of the Neutral Quest.

Taboo

You must not bind another alignment quest spirit while bound to the Unknown God. Breaking this taboo does not drain a level and has no timeout.

Mark

None

Immunity

None

Skill

None

Active Powers

• Phase Step: You are invulnerable for 5 turns, and can walk through anything. This is effectively phasing but stronger, and you are entirely untouched by the passage of time, the attacks of foes, and any effects that try to affect you. However, you can still perform actions of your own, including using items, attacking, and casting spells. Most effects you apply to yourself will apply as normal, but some timed effects may only begin to happen after Phase Step is over.

Passive Powers

• Energy Fount: You recover magic energy faster. This is an extra 6*your die size energy per 90 turns, and stacks with other sources of energy regeneration, for approximately 0.6 energy per turn at level 30.
• Unknown Resonance: The Pen of the Void's enchantment is doubled and applied to your AC, not your damage. This effect only applies when the Pen is wielded, and is not affected by your quest completion status.

The Spirits of the Outer Void

These spirits represent the endgame for Binders, giving them a greater degree of control over the other spirits they have bound. They may only be bound by Binders, even if their seals are found in bones.

The Council of Elements

We are the Council of Elements
Guardians of the Material world
You who straddle the line between our world and the void beyond
you shall be our emissary to that which gave rise to us all

Binding Ritual

The Council of Elements is bound automatically when a Binder is crowned. This spirit will never be unbound by time or taboo.

Taboo

None - this will never be unbound.

Mark

Your eyes shine like stars.

Your eyes can be seen from a distance, and can be disguised by covering your face. Note that lenses and living masks are see-through, and won't work.

Active Powers

• Embassy of Elements: Allows you to bind a spirit of the near void to a special slot, without needing a binding ritual. This effectively gives you an extra spirit slot, albeit a somewhat limited one. Using the power while another spirit is already bound in the extra slot will unbind the first without penalty or timeout. You must have previously bound this spirit at least once before, and its binding cannot currently be on cooldown.

Numina, The Whispering Multitude

The literal meaning is simply "a nod", or more accurately, for it is a passive formation, "that which is produced by nodding", just as flamen is "that which is produced by blowing", i.e., a gust of wind. It came to mean "the product or expression of power" — not, be it noted, power itself.

[ H. J. Rose ]

Binding Ritual

The Numina can only be bound by 30th level Binders. The seal is silently learned once the Binder reaches level 30.

Taboo

The Numina's pact breaks if the Binder ever loses a level.

Mark

The Binder is surrounded by whispers.

The whispers can only be hear up close. The whispers can not be disguised.

Immunity

The Numina grant immunity to stun and confusion.

Skill

The Numina allows access to all skills, but does not unrestrict nor grant a bonus to any skill.

Active Powers

• Identify: Identifies inventory.
• Clairvoyance: Map the local area.
• Find the Path: Detect nearby magic portals.
• Gnostic Premonition: Allows use of Gnostic Premonition despite having spirits bound (Bind any spirit of your choice for 5 turns). Cooldown is 25 turns instead of 125.

Passive Powers

• Whispersense: Intrinsic monster detection

Outer Gods

These spirits behave differently from the others and are not exclusive to a Binder, and may even be difficult for a Binder to find and use.

Yog-Sothoth, the Key and the Gate

A user has suggested improving this page or section as follows:

"Create and link cult page, add encyclopedia entry, more details on abilities, add details on fingerprint shield when it's live"

Yog-Sothoth is the neutral cult god, and is represented by a bound spirit. This spirit is the main method of communicating with the cult and getting its benefits. The spirit takes the Alignment slot, along with the Spirits of Conflict.

Many of the useful abilities Yog-Sothoth provides are mutations or cult boons, and are documented on its own page. These are the features that behave most like a traditional spirit.

Binding Ritual

The seal must be engraved on a teleport or levelport trap, or on a portal. Additionally, having The Silver Key in open inventory allows Yog-Sothoth to be bound anywhere, and prevents the binding timer from ticking down.

Taboo

You must not destroy a trap with a wand of cancellation (levelport, teleport, magic, polymorph).

Mark

You sprout bloodsucking tentacles from your waist, and your feet become strange circular appendages. Wearing armor and boots will disguise these marks.

Additionally, mutations may grant you flaming eyes. These also count as a mark, and must be covered by sufficient eyewear.

Immunity

Protection from shapechangers and bloodsense.

Skill

Yog-Sothoth grants skill in Firearms.

Active Powers

• Burst of Madness: Fire a ray of magenta fire in the chosen direction. This ray can be reflected but does not bounce off walls. The ray deals fire and magic damage, and exposes the target to your madnesses (sharing your madnesses gains cult credit). This power only appears after taking the relevant mutation.
• Unendurable Madness: Causes multiple magenta fire explosions in the chosen direction. These explosions repeatedly expose targets to your madnesses. These explosions require both fire and magic res to resist the damage. This power only appears after taking the relevant mutation.
• Contact Yog-Sothoth: Only appears if you have sufficient cult credit to ask for a major or minor boon. Accesses the boon menu when used, no cooldown.

Passive Powers

• Bloodsucking Tentacles: The tentacles around your waist can periodically lash out at enemies adjacent to you, dealing 3d3 blood damage. This grants cult credit, and will likely be your best source
• Chanting Tentacles: Available as a mutation. When Yog-Sothoth is bound, your tentacles are able to cast spells at nearby enemies automatically. The spell list expands at certain levels as follows: Psi-Bolt at all levels, Cure Self (you) at level 10, Haste Self (you) at level 13, Barf Bolt at level 16, Drain Energy at level 19, Destroy Armor at level 22, Lightning at level 25, Touch of Death at level 27, and Flesh to Stone at level 29.
• As a Foulness shall ye know Them: Creatures with a keen sense of smell will mostly spawn hostile, and will always know your position.

The Black Web Entity

The Black Web is a Far Realms entity that represents an inversion of the natural order; in which the shadows cast by webs are imbued with agency, and the thoughts and actions of living things flow deterministically from the choices of these shadows.
[ The Great Scribe ]

This spirit is the only spirit that Binders do not naturally have access to. Female myrkalfar (drow) Anachrononauts are permanently bound to it as part of their starting kit. Lawful male droven Priests, Rangers, Rogues, or Wizards learn the seal upon being crowned and can bind it conventionally. It occupies the same slot as the quest spirits (the Spirits of the Gate), and for Binders who learn this seal, it will behave the same when binding as them.

Binding Ritual

The seal must be engraved on a lit square containing a web. This is flavored as using the shadow of the web. Binding the Black Web is not entirely healthy for those not of the Far Realms, so you're afflicted with minor damage. Due to direct contact with the Black Web Entity, you are blinded and made to hallucinate for 5 turns and lose (d8)d(d5+1) hp, and without poison resistance will additionally take 3-7 points of damage to a random ability score.

Taboo

None.

Mark

Your shadow is wrapped in the black web. This black web can be seen if you're in a lit square and not invisible.

Immunity

None.

Skill

None.

Active Powers

• Black Bolt: Fires a poisoned stained faded (armor-phasing) shadowsteel spike in a given direction. The enchantment of the spike is 8+5d(spirit dice). This spike phases through walls to to hit a target. When it hits the target, creates a web and traps the target inside.
• Weave a Black Web: For the next 5 turns, makes 4d8 shadowblade attacks to all adjacent hostile monsters. Hitting a monster during this period will trigger this again, but excluding the struck monster.

Passive Powers

• Affinity for Entanglement: You gain a -8 bonus to AC and +8 movement points when trapped in a web. You cannot destroy webs by any means, but tearing, burning, etc. out of a web will free you instantly as normal.
• Sharpened Shadows: Your unarmed attacks are replaced with 4d8 shadowy spiritual weapon attacks known as shadowblades. As spiritual weapon attacks they bypass the AC/DR from the target's worn armor, and are guaranteed to hit shades/etc. like armor-phasing weapons. Shadowblades are always poisoned with normal poison. These attacks don't count as hitting with a wielded weapon or get any strength/skill/etc. bonus damage, but also get no unarmed combat bonuses from gloves, rings, or similar. Additionally, you can two-weapon with an empty offhand (which is replaced by a shadowblade). This offhand shadowblade is not affected by lack of two-weapon skill but does require a free hand like normal.