History VideoGame / DungeonCrawl

* CowardlyBoss: Prince Ribbit will use his teleportation powers to try to escape you if he gets seriously injured. So will just about any other boss with the Teleport Self spell.

* CrutchCharacter: Ignis, a god of flames that's [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly dying from lack of worship]], will give you all the power it has left should you follow it. Its invokable abilities are immensely powerful in the early game, but they can only be used a handful of times, and taper off rapidly around the Lair. Of course, once you run out of invocations, you'll have to switch or be stuck with a vestigial god, and switching gods means Ignis [[TakingYouWithMe will spend the last of its strength trying to kill you]].
* CrystalDragonJesus: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] almost to the point of parody. The messianic religion in this game is the faith of Beogh, the god of the ''orcs'', and a follower of the orc religion gets to be "Orc Jesus" with the ability to walk on water and an entourage of orcish apostles. Of course, Beogh is also a [[JerkassGods racist jerkass of a god]], and becoming Orc Jesus involves killing anyone who's not an Orc (and any Orc who won't convert) for the glory of Beogh.
* CrystalWeapon:
** The zealot's sword, a holy artifact weapon made from one huge piece of crystal.
** The spell Lehudib's Crystal Spear launches, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a crystal spear]] at a target for massive damage. There also used to be an artifact weapon of the same name -- it was rather less impressive than the spell, but could still be thrown to hit distant targets before [[PrecisionGuidedBoomerang returning to its thrower's pack]].

* OurOgresAreHungrier: [[MassiveRaceSelection And playable!]] They're not {{Smash Mook}}s, however, but {{Glass Cannon}}s due to their combination of massive strength and inability to wear many kinds of armor. They are capable of wielding the largest weapons in the game, and make surprisingly [[GeniusBruiser competent mages]] as well, with only slight penalties to learning and using magic.

* ReligionOfEvil: Some gods are tagged as evil by the game. In general, their followers don't act much differently from most other gods (most gods don't care from whom the blood comes so long as it flows), but the triumvirate of Good hate these gods above all others.

** Makhleb is a ChaoticEvil god of destruction, bloodshed, and demons, one the many seeking the world's destruction. [[invoked]]

* '''emphasis on playstyle''': The game tries to accommodate many different styles of play, which is one reason why the game has such a huge roster of races, classes, and gods - and also why this roster changes with each new version, as the dev team tries out new ideas and discards flawed ones.
* '''emphasis on race over class''': character classes in ''Crawl'' are little more than a starting package of skills and equipment. It's possible for a player to change their character's role entirely over the course of a game. Race, on the other hand, makes a huge difference in what a player can do: a vampire plays very differently to a minotaur, for example. This is a reversal of the class-based gameplay in most other roguelikes.

* '''religion''': ''Crawl'' has an entire pantheon of gods for players to follow, which grant special powers and abilities while adding restrictions to what you can do in game (followers of good gods, for example, cannot use evil weapons or dark magic). This adds a third dimension of religion to the race/class combination.

** Most races couldn’t eat chunks of freshly butchered meat while not hungry, but Trolls, Kobolds, Felids, and Ghouls could. In even older versions, other species could obtain this ability by wearing an Amulet of the Gourmand or mutating to become a carnivore.

* BirdPeople: Tengu (called "Kenku" in previous versions) are a race of wingless avian humanoids, frail-bodied but with vicious beaks and talons. They gain the magical ability to fly when levelled up.

** The Demonspawn race kind of has this as its gimmick; as you level up, more of your demonic ancestry asserts itself, which can often result in deformities (albeit beneficial ones).

* CatsHaveNineLives: While felids gain their extra lives one at a time as they level up rather than starting with nine (and they can only hold up to two extra lives at a time), the sapient cats being the only race with an extra life mechanic ''at all'' is a clear reference to the myth.

* CombatTentacles: The playable octopode race can use their tentacles to slap and squeeze enemies to death. Several monsters have these as well; one such example would be the [[KrakenAndLeviathan krakens]] roaming the Shoals.

* DifficultyLevels: Winning with a Spriggan Enchanter worshiping Nemelex or a Minotaur Berserker worshiping Trog is pretty easy, but playing some races (Mummies, Ogres, Demigods) is by design much more difficult than others (Vampires, Trolls, Humans). There also is a "Wanderer" class, which starts you with a few skills chosen completely at random as well as some pieces of equipment chosen at random, neither of which are guaranteed to correspond with each other. Play a mummy wanderer who worships [[MadGod Xom]] and... well, at least your quick death might be funny.

* TheFairFolk: While the elves in the game are clearly Tolkienian, there is a spriggan race (based on the mythological Cornish fairy of the same name) that keeps all its fair-folk features, such as the lack of wings.

** Prior to 0.27, Yredelemnul, the god of undeath, would not accept worship from gargoyles on the grounds that they're not entirely alive and therefore can never become undead. Other races also used to face excommunication from Yredelemnul if they used the Statue Form spell.
** Dithmenos, the god of shadows and darkness; it was stated that if the lava orc race was ever introduced officially into the game, Dithmenos would refuse service from them on the grounds that the light they give off when WreathedInFlames is offensive.

* FeaturelessProtagonist: You get to choose your name, species, background, maybe a starting weapon, and that's about it. ''Crawl'' never asks the player to supply a gender or any other personalising details; indeed, for the more average humanoid races, the in-game description of them is "You are rather mundane." The non-ASCII version of Crawl does at least give you the ability to create a VirtualPaperDoll for yourself.

** Tengu are a race of BirdPeople that have excellent aptitudes for combat skills but very low hit points.

* {{Halfling}}: Halflings used to be playable until 0.27. They leveled up quickly, were sneaky, excellent with slings, and surprisingly sturdy for a small race.

** Felids had the dubious honor of being the only race with the ability to self-cannibalize. Their [[OneUp extra lives]] revive them elsewhere on the level when they die, and if you went back to where you were killed, you could find your own corpse. And then eat it.

* InvisibleMonsters: Unseen horrors are naturally invisible (and horrible). Several spellcasters can ''turn'' invisible temporarily, but you could walk right into an unseen horror while it is asleep without seeing it. Fortunately, there are ways to see invisible creatures -- certain races can see invisible on their own (Felids, Nagas, Spriggans, and Vampires), and others can use a ring, enchanted hat, or random artifact (though such equipment is often quite rare). Alternatively, you can use a divine halo, force them to move into something that would be displaced (like fog or water), or just set them on fire. Even if you lack all of these powers, invisible monsters can sometimes be discerned by the disturbances in the air they make, indicated by a humanoid outline. If you have a rough idea where they are, you can drop an area-effect spell or ability on them, and if you're fighting one in a one-tile wide corridor, that means you can just keep swinging in a single direction, shoot down the corridor or use beam spells, items, and abilities - you're bound to hit it at least some of the time.

** Before their removal, flaming corpses were literal men on fire; more precisely, they were the reanimated remains of people who burned to death. They existed only to set other things ablaze -- namely you. And they ran faster than you unless you were playing a fast race like a centaur or a spriggan. 0.28 added searing wretches as a sort of spiritual successor to flaming corpses; they're slower, but have the ability to temporarily strip fire resistance from their targets.

* TheMaze: In older versions, there was an optional branch called Labyrinth in place of Gauntlet. It featured tight corridors that cannot be permanently mapped and that also occasionally shift. There were no enemies save for rare occurrances of hungry ghosts, spiders, and the minotaur who guards the exit. The real challenge was finding the way out before starving to death, but successful players were rewarded with a bunch of reasonably good items. As a ShoutOut to the Greek myth, Minotaur characters used to be able to map out more of a Labyrinth than any other race.

** Before the removal of hunger, Mummies were one of the very few races that didn't need to eat at all ([[ImmunityDisability though this also prevented them from drinking potions]], making them very difficult to play).

** Inverted with the smaller races - they may need two hands to hold a weapon which the larger species can hold with just one.

** [[MassiveRaceSelection And playable!]] Demonspawn are a JackOfAllStats race not unlike humans; they gain sets of special mutations as they level up, but are incapable of worshiping the three good gods.

** Like dwarves, there used to be more varieties of elves, such as the standard Tolkien-esque warrior-mage High Elves or the swamp-dwelling KungFuWizard Sludge Elves. Most of them were removed because they overlapped too much with other races.

* OurGargoylesRock: [[MassiveRaceSelection And are playable!]] They're decent with melee combat and earth magic and have a host of natural abilities including natural armor, immunity to poison and [[TakenForGranite petrification]], resistance to electricity and negative energies, and no need to breathe. On the flip side, [[ArmoredButFrail they gain much less hit points per level]] then other races and are ''horribly'' vulnerable to the Lee's Rapid Deconstruction spell found on some late-game monsters.
* OurGeniesAreDifferent: [[MassiveRaceSelection And playable!]] Their original iteration was added and removed between updates, but djinn are now in the game properly as of 0.27. The current djinni race have FogFeet like the genie from ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' (though ''Crawl's'' djinn are red, not blue). They are also highly resistant to fire, weak to cold, and immune to poison. Their most notable traits, however, are that [[CastFromHitPoints their spells cost HP]] instead of MP (which they don't have); they do not learn spells from spellbooks -- instead, they naturally learn one random spell every other level; and they only apply their Spellcasting skill when using magic (ignoring the other magic skills entirely).

* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: [[MassiveRaceSelection And playable!]] They're of the "tails transform into legs" type, and are as capable on land as any other race. They get major bonuses to speed and evasion in water, and they have ''the'' best polearms aptitude of any race. They're also not bad with [[CoolSword long blades]], which complement their nimble builds.

* PlantPeople: The Vine Stalker race, which are masses of parasitic vines that have infested humanoid bodies. They are frail and cannot heal using potions, but some of the damage they take [[ManaShield gets rerouted to their MP]] and they eventually gain a HealingFactor that rivals even Trolls'. They also have a [[ManaDrain magic-draining bite]] for restoring their magical reserves mid-battle (as well as applying [[PowerNullifier antimagic]] to any spellcasters they might be fighting).

** Tengu, a race of BirdPeople; they don't have wings, but they get the ability to magically fly anyway upon reaching level 5.
** There are various ways to take flight for races that can't do so naturally, such as with a potion, enchanted boots, or magical equipment.

** Draconians start off as brown-scaled juveniles without a breath weapon, then randomly mature into one of eight colours on reaching level seven and gain their breath weapon. As some of these are extremely useful and some are borderline useless, many players RageQuit if they don't get one of the desirable colours. The dev team have repeatedly refused to allow players to choose the colour they get despite many requests, saying the random result is one of the races' core elements.

** Evil priests are a common enemy class for a variety of monster races. They tend to know how to invoke their god's fervour to smite their targets for an unavoidable and irresistible chunk of damage; orc priests are infamously lethal with such smiting due to showing up before players have accumulated much health.

* SquishyWizard: Played mostly straight: wizards tend to be squishy, and so do most of the races who can focus hardest on magic. Enemy exceptions include ogres and nagas (whose best casters are at least as strong as their tanks), a few demons, and the unique enemy Louise, a heavily armored human mage with a tendency to banish you to [[HyperspaceIsScary the Abyss]].

* StrongAnts: The Formicids, a race of ant people. Their four arms combined with insect-style strength allow them to wield [[OneHandedZweihander two-handed weapons]] and a shield simultaneously; they can also use ogre-sized weapons, but need all four arms to do it.

* UnexplainedRecovery: The Felid race can gain "extra lives" which revive them somewhere (theoretically) safe if they die.

* DyingCurse: Enemy mummies do this. Basic mummies used to curse a random item in your inventory but no longer do so; more advanced mummies will torment you, hit you with pain spells, rot your flesh, drain your stats, or summon shadows or demons. This is a big part of what makes the Tomb of the Ancients (an area chock-full of high-level mummies) so maddeningly difficult.

** Finally, Pandemonium is another infinite realm, where each level is different and you can never revisit a level. It's the home of the greatest demons, and ''each level'' is guarded by a mighty demon lord; while there's infinite experience and loot to be found here, it's one of the most dangerous areas in the game and grinding here really isn't worth it. There are five runes here. Paradoxically, this is also the home realm of the Shining One, and one level is dedicated to its holy fortress. ([[HolyIsNotSafe It's still not a safe place to be.]])

** Prior to 0.6, Cleansing Flame was essentially this, allowing devout worshipers of The Shining One to hurl balls of positive energy over a long distance (it now invokes a similar explosion, but centered on the caster). Averted in that Cleansing Flame does little damage to beast-type monsters, including [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail the original [=HHG=]'s]] [[KillerRabbit intended target]].

* TacticalDoorUse: A surprisingly viable tactic. While anything with hands can open doors, animals and many monsters cannot, including dragons and elephants. It doesn't work against jellies, as they can simply [[ExtremeOmnivore eat the door]], nor does it work on the unique dragon Xtahua, who can [[BarrierBustingBlow smash through doors]]. Less useful in 0.28, since any enemy that can open doors can smash them down if they are chasing you. Previously it was possible to repeatedly close a door in a monster's face while you regenerate.

** Natural attack mutations can also be an example, since they can prevent you from wearing certain armor types if they progress enough. For example, you might find a really good helmet, only to grow horns, antennae, and/or a beak (which prevent you from wearing a helmet).

* ElementalShapeshifter: The Statue Form spell, which turns the user into a slow but very durable animate statue.

** Venom Mages, a playable class that focuses on Poison Magic.
** Also Olgreb, a legendary mage who is referenced by some spells and artifacts named after him. Said spells and artifacts are potent enough to be able to overcome poison resistance in monsters.

* NintendoHard: This game ''is'' going to kill you, and when you make a new character, the ghost of your dead character is going to try to kill ''them''. [[note]]This was more true back in the days when player ghosts were allowed to roam the dungeon freely. Nowadays, however, ghosts are confined to vaults and fighting them is entirely optional.[[/note]]

** There are also Draconians, which are [[MassiveRaceSelection playable]] [[DraconicHumanoid humanoid dragons]] and get a [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience random color]] (including associated traits and BreathWeapon) when they mature at level 7.

** There are also various ways to take flight for races that can't do so naturally, such as with a potion, enchanted boots, or magical equipment.

** The unique lich Boris. After you kill him, he respawns somewhere else in the dungeon. He can even show up when you're running to the exit with the Orb of Zot!
** Also present with Natasha, a unique felid. Unlike Boris, she only respawns on the same floor you found her on, and she only has three lives. Interestingly, Natasha is implied to be Boris's long-lost familiar, which makes the two one of ''Crawl'''s [[WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle sneakier references]].

** Before their removal, centaurs also fell under this category; unlike spriggans and felids, they were actually fairly robust and could make use of most forms of equipment (save for boots; they required the much-less-common barding instead), but they had poor aptitudes for melee, defensive, and magical skills.

** There's also sometimes a special store called "Zin's Purification Station" situated near an altar to Zin -- it always sells a single potion of curing.

** Also worthy of note are the demonspawn classes of Pandemonium, which all serve as {{Evil Counterpart}}s to players worshipping a variety of gods with correlating shared divine titles and twists on their invocations. Naturally, they've focused on deities of war, death, distortion, and chaos. The sole exception to general title correlations are [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast blood saints]], who prefer destruction. [[note]]The title is unique to player demonspawn, and is received for maximizing Invocations skill under evil gods.[[/note]]

** Phantoms also blink often, but as of version 0.27, they carry whatever they're fighting along for the ride.

** Also sometimes happens to enemies and items between updates. For example, the giant mosquitoes of [[BubblegloopSwamp the Swamp]] got an undead upgrade and LifeDrain capabilities as [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire mosquitoes]] in 0.8.

** Also present with the names of unidentified scrolls (which are randomly generated gibberish) and some randomly generated artifact weapons, which may also have gibberish names.

** Ijyb is also only dangerous if she's got a good wand.

** There's also the very rare artifact Undeadhunter, which is a [[CarryABigStick great mace]] with a special "disrupt undead" brand. Said brand is less versatile than the holy wrath brand because it does no extra damage to demonic creatures, but it does even more damage to undead than holy wrath.

** Also happens sometimes with the normal enemies in the dungeon; there are enemies that wouldn't be particularly strong on their own, but they tend to travel in packs. A few examples...

** Most [[MagicWand magic staves]] amplify the power of a particular kind of spell when wielded.

* ArcNumber: [[http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=27 Crawl seems to have a fondness for the number 27.]] Maybe Linley's a [[Music/WeirdAlYankovic Weird Al]] fan.

* MagicWand: ''Crawl'' does feature a number of magic wands, but those more closely fit the BoomStick trope. It's actually the [[MagicStaff magical staves]] that are {{Magic Wand}}s; there are several varieties of magical staves, each of which boost the power of spells in specific schools. Several rarer, more powerful artifact staves also exist.

* TooAwesomeToUse: The game has taken steps to avoid this in some cases - most of the powerful miscellaneous items go inert after a single use and will recharge after some time, which makes players feel less worried about wasting them.
** Curare needles are ''devastating'' against anything that doesn't resist poison, dealing hefty poison damage, slowing them, and asphyxiating them - which has the nice bonus of shutting down many hostile casters (since you can't chant spells if you can't breathe). They are also fairly rare and come in very small stacks.

* DemonLordsAndArchdevils: The strongest of ''Crawl's'' various demons are those represented by an ampersand (&) in the console version. There's Geryon, the gatekeeper to the four Hells. The bottom floor of each branch of Hell contain one of the hell lords (Asmodeus, Antaeus, Ereshkigal, and Dispater), all of whom guard a [[PlotCoupon Rune of Zot]] apiece. The endless demonic realms of Pandemonium contain four more named demon lords (Cerebov, Lom Lobon, Mnoleg, and Gloorx Vloq), each of whom presides over one specific level and guards another Rune. Other levels in Pandemonium are each ruled by one or more randomly-generated Pandemonium Lords, all of whom have a chance of guarding yet another Rune. All of these are extremely challenging {{Bonus Boss}}es, as you can find enough Runes to complete the game elsewhere in the dungeon.

* UnusableEnemyEquipment: Crawl heavily averts this - you can pick up and use any equipment dropped by an enemy that you're capable of wielding or wearing, and this is one of the most common ways to improve your loadout (particularly since the enemy will likely have obligingly demonstrated the equipment's capabilities while attacking you).
* UselessUsefulSpell: Largely averted. Hexes (disabling spells) can be tremendously useful all throughout the game, as long as you aren't trying to cast them on something immune to hostile enchantments. However, they can get a little risky -- if you fail to disable something, you've wasted several turns where a character that relies on more straightforward methods would have already been fighting the creature.

** Wu Jian council is the congregation composed with the monks who [[DeityOfHumanOrigin ascended to divinity]. Worshippers of them gain powerful martial attack techniques like WallJump or [[FlashStep Serpent's Lash]].

* DamageDiscrimination:
** Averted for the most part. Enemies don't generally try to attack each other, but when they do, there is no damage discrimination. Tricking or compelling powerful enemies to attack others is a useful strategy if you can pull it off.
** Played straight with certain abilities or spells that specifically do not harm allies.

* SuicidalOverconfidence:
** Historically, this trope was mostly averted. Monsters that were at low HP would become afraid and flee, possibly firing ranged attacks at you in their retreat. However, this was judged as violating the RuleOfFun and removed, so now the game plays the trope straight. The only monster "fleeing" that still exists is when the player specifically ''inflicts'' fear (such as by reading a scroll of fear or with the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Cause Fear]] spell).
** Some monsters, such as [[BearsAreBadNews bears]], will promptly activate BerserkerRage when afraid and come right back at you.

** The undead are vulnerable to weapons of holy wrath (blessed by The Shining One, god of not-liking-unholy-stuff), and the Dispel Undead spell is essentially Crawl's version of Turn Undead - it is, however, a Necromancy spell, meaning that any characters who want to be holy are forbidden from using it.
** There's also the very rare artifact Undeadhunter, which is a [[CarryABigStick great mace]] with a special "disrupt undead" brand. Said brand is less versatile than the holy wrath brand because it does no extra damage to demonic creatures, but it does even more damage to undead than holy wrath.

* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Angels are present as monsters that are typically quite tough to deal with - especially if one is undead and[=/=]or relies on BlackMagic to kill stuff. Angels and their tougher cousins Daevas are also [[GoodIsNotNice very aggressive]], even if the player is a very zealous follower of a good god and ostensibly on their side. Prior to 0.15, they would occasionally recognize followers of the good gods, but this would only make them "indifferent", not "friendly"; you also often got [[BoltOfDivineRetribution smote by the Shining One]] for killing them, even in self-defense.

** [[MassiveRaceSelection And playable!]] Or, at least, they ''were'' until version 0.26. They were fast and deadly archers, but body armor didn't protect them well, and they had poor aptitudes for skills that didn't involve ranged weaponry. Enemy centaurs are still around, though, and very much retain their speed and prowess with bows.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: But not directly playable, save for the [[ScaledUp Dragon Form]] spell. Draconians ([[DraconicHumanoid humanoid dragon people]]) ''are'' playable, however, and get a [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience random color]] (including associated traits and BreathWeapon) when they mature at level 7.
* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: Not quite, but were still [[MassiveRaceSelection playable]] up until version 0.29. Deep Dwarves were tough and capable necromancers and priests, but they lacked natural regeneration. The Mountain Dwarves that were present in earlier versions resembled the traditional Tolkeinian dwarves more.

* OurGeniesAreDifferent: [[MassiveRaceSelection And playable!]] Their original iteration was added and removed between updates, but djinn are now in the game properly as of 0.27. The current djinni race have FogFeet like the genie from WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} (though ''Crawl's'' djinn are red, not blue). They are also highly resistant to fire, weak to cold, and immune to poison. Their most notable traits, however, are that [[CastFromHitPoints their spells cost HP]] instead of MP (which they don't have); they do not learn spells from spellbooks -- instead, they naturally learn one random spell every other level; and they only apply their Spellcasting skill when using magic (ignoring the other magic skills entirely).
* OurGhostsAreDifferent: [[UndeathAlwaysEnds And slayable!]] ([[RunningGag Get]] [[IncrediblyLamePun it?]]) A player character who dies may leave a ghost that carries on most of the deceased player's abilities and weaknesses as well as a [[GhostlyGoals fair share of hatred]] towards anyone attempting to complete the Orb quest - that is, [[MacroGame new player characters]]. There's also a fair number of different ghostly enemies with varying abilities.

* OurGoblinsAreDifferent: [[DefiedTrope But not playable]], unless you count kobolds, who make acceptable mages and are quite good at stealth and [[BackStab backstabbing]], especially since they naturally see less of the dungeon than normal. Goblins and hobgoblins are still present as early-game enemies, though.
* [[{{Halfling}} Our Halflings Are Different]]: And no longer playable, having been replaced by [[OurGeniesAreDifferent Djinn]] in version 0.27. Back when they were still around, they leveled up quickly, were sneaky, excellent with slings, and were surprisingly sturdy for a small race. In previous versions, they were a JokeCharacter race, but this has since improved.

** [[RunningGag And playable]] -- not as a race, but as a form. The player can learn the Necromutation spell, which will result in a temporary transformation into a lich. As a result, the player gains improved stats, a fairly potent draining touch, and the various resistances and vulnerabilities associated with being undead. There are downsides, though: you can't drink potions anymore, and if you worship one of the good gods and cast the spell, you're instantly excommunicated (though you'd already be in hot water with your god for spending so much time learning Necromancy to begin with).

* OurOgresAreHungrier: Not so much now that the hunger system is gone, [[MassiveRaceSelection but they're still playable.]] They're not {{Smash Mook}}s, however, but {{Glass Cannon}}s due to their combination of massive strength and inability to wear many kinds of armor. They are capable of wielding the largest weapons in the game, and make surprisingly [[GeniusBruiser competent mages]] as well, with only slight penalties to learning and using magic.

* OurWightsAreDifferent: [[OverlyLongGag But not playable.]] They're undead warriors that are found in groups in the early Dungeon, and are most notable for often carrying high-quality weapons and having draining-branded attacks.

* InvisibleMonsters: Unseen horrors are naturally invisible (and horrible). Several spellcasters can ''turn'' invisible temporarily, but you could walk right into an unseen horror while it is asleep without seeing it. Fortunately, there are ways to see invisible creatures -- certain races can see invisible on their own (Felids, Nagas, Spriggans, Vampires, and Palentongas), and others can use a ring, enchanted hat, or random artifact (though such equipment is often quite rare). Alternatively, you can use a divine halo, force them to move into something that would be displaced (like fog or water), or just set them on fire. Even if you lack all of these powers, invisible monsters can sometimes be discerned by the disturbances in the air they make, indicated by a humanoid outline. If you have a rough idea where they are, you can drop an area-effect spell or ability on them, and if you're fighting one in a one-tile wide corridor, that means you can just keep swinging in a single direction, shoot down the corridor or use beam spells, items, and abilities - you're bound to hit it at least some of the time.

* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: Unlike a lot of roguelikes, ''Crawl'' takes this trope a little more seriously. While in most, a shield is merely considered a boost to one's armour no different from, say, chainmail or a helmet, in ''Crawl'' shields are a defensive tool. They provide no armour boost, but give the player a chance of completely blocking a hit, which increases as they increase their Shields skill. Certain magical shields or amulets can even let you [[AttackReflector reflect attacks]] back at your foes!

* MacroGame: The player may encounter ghosts of previous characters in the Dungeon. Ghosts have similar strengths and weaknesses as they had while alive, which includes any really nice equipment they were using when they died. This can make for some really nasty surprises for future characters, though player ghosts are always sealed away in special vaults and [[DungeonBypass can therefore be skipped]].

* MagicMisfire: When you miscast a spell, something bad (getting self-damage or debuffs, or summoning hostile monsters) can happen, depending on the type and strength of the spell. Additionally, "magic contamination" builds up as you miscast, and having lots of it will give you nasty effects like bad mutations or deadly explosions.

* TheMaze: One of Dungeon Crawl's occasionally generated optional challenge levels, the Labyrinth features tight corridors that cannot be permanently mapped and that also occasionally shift. There are no enemies save for rare occurrances of hungry ghosts, spiders, and the minotaur who guards the exit. The real challenge is finding the way out before starving to death, but successful players are rewarded with a bunch of reasonably good items. As a ShoutOut to the Greek myth, Minotaur characters used to be able to map out more of a Labyrinth than any other race.
** Labyrinths have since been removed in favor of Gauntlets, a series of multiple-choice arenas containing some loot, followed by a fight with a Minotaur guarding a larger pile of loot.

** Weapons exist in various sizes. Smaller species are unable to use larger weapons like triple swords or great maces, and Sprrigans are so tiny, they need use both hands to wield most one-handed weapons. Furthermore, the weapons like giant clubs are so robust, only large species and formicids (with their all four arms) can equip.

* TheCorruption: Averted and played straight:
** Averted: It's really more of background radiation induced by FunctionalMagic and it doesn't affect your alignment, but it can be annoying. Having a high enough level of contamination causes you to [[GlowingEyesOfDoom glow]], can mutate you, and at high enough levels can even cause you to [[SuperPowerMeltdown explode]].
** Played Straight: Demonspawn slowly get more and more demonic as they gain experience levels. It doesn't necessarily turn them evil, but it can result in BodyHorror.

** A Hill Orc worshipping Beogh plays this trope very straight. Beogh is an evil god who rewards killing, is stated to advocate the extermination or enslavement of non-orcs, and is generally kind of a {{Jerkass God|s}}. Worship them yourself and you'll be subjected to gushing praise by most of the orcs you come across who consider you their savior.
** Also worth mentioning is the enemy counterpart to the Hill Orc worshipper of Beogh, Saint Roka - a unique enemy orc. They have the same powers as a worshipper of Beogh with a very high piety, including the ability to walk on water and a herd of adoring orcish followers who will lay down their lives for them. If the player character is a Hill Orc worshipping Beogh and has high enough piety, there's a chance that they can even convert Saint Roka themselves to their cause.

** Transmuters frequently shapeshift and beat monsters down with their newfound [[ShapeshifterWeapon natural weapons]]. Enchanters and Hexslingers debuff their enemies before attacking with weapons. And Warpers can fight, but they've also got an array of Translocations with which to escape sticky situations and control the battlefield.
** Skalds started with skills in the melee weapon of their choice and self-buff spells, while Reavers got blasting spells instead; both have been removed, though.
** Worshipping Makhleb allows throwing around destructive blasts of power and summoning demons without having to worry about spell failure from heavy armor, [[EatTheSummoner though the demons may decide to eat ''your'' face instead of your enemy's]].
** Qazlal Stormbringer is similar to Makhleb; instead of demons, worshipers can summon elementals, and instead of beams and healing after kills, they can shoot smite-targeted bursts and are surrounded by a storm dealing passive damage.

* MagicMisfire: Of every shape and color. They range from harmless (an ice mage getting a bit frosty, an enchanter making the dirt glow) to YetAnotherStupidDeath (a necromancer rotting from the inside out, a translocator getting stuck in [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace the Abyss]]). Even minor failures can become dangerous as magical contamination builds up in the caster, ending in a [[YourHeadAsplode violent terminus]] for those too stupid or desperate to stop casting.

* OneSizeFitsAll:
** Averted. Some races are so tiny they can't wear armour at all, or wield large weapons. Some races are so huge they need enormous armour.
** Played straight by the many varieties of dragon armour, [[JustifiedTrope justified]] as dragon armour is created through the use of magic.
** Robes and hats will also fit all races (except draconians who can't wear any body armor including robes), though one can amuse themselves with mental images of a spriggan whose robe trails three feet behind them or an ogre whose robe doesn't even reach their knees.

** Mummies were one of the very few races that didn't need to eat at all ([[ImmunityDisability though this also prevented them from drinking potions]], making them very difficult to play).
** For high-level necromancers, the Necromutation spell could be used to transform oneself into an undead lich, which also negated the need for food.

* ElectricBlackGuy: In a possible nod to this trope, black draconians have electricity resistance, a lightning-based BreathWeapon, and an increased aptitude for air magic (the magic school that encompasses the manipulation of electricity).

* ThePaladin: Paladin used to be a playable background, but was removed after changes in version 0.8. A martial follower of the Shining One is still very paladin-like, however.

** Some rare items grant the ability to turn invisible, which is useful in many situations; however, going invisible too often causes a build-up of magic contamination, which will eventually negate your invisibility and can even build to actively harmful levels. As of version 0.26, attempting to use evocable sources of invisibility also [[MaximumHPReduction temporarily reduces your maximum HP]].

** The walls of the Slime Pits inflict acid damage on players standing next to them. Followers of Jiyva the Slime God are immune to this effect and can even temporarily coat walls around them with corrosive slime.

** Enforced with followers of Ru who decide to sacrifice love, which will turn even your summons and undead minions hostile. The only things that won't be out for your blood at that point are "creatures" that are the active part of a spell (like an orb of destruction or ball lightning) or AttackDrones like battlespheres or spectral weapons.

*** The potion of lignification turns the player into a tree, rooting them to the ground. This is obviously a disadvantage if you're trying to escape, but being a tree comes with the perks of increased durability, resistance to poison, and complete immunity to [[PercentDamageAttack Torment]].
*** The potion of ambrosia temporarily grants you vastly increased health regeneration and mana regeneration... but also inflicts confusion for the same duration, making it very difficult to fight while affected.
*** The potion of mutation inflicts random mutations on you, which can be good; however, there's nothing stopping you from also getting a bunch of bad mutations.
*** The potion of attraction will temporarily pull monsters close to you. While this can be helpful for fighting opponents with potent ranged attacks or for stabbing sleeping monsters without waking them up, you can't choose ''not'' to attract monsters, even if they're ones you would really rather not be standing next to.

* WrongContextMagic: Followers of Lugonu can teleport by bending space around them, which bypasses effects that would normally prevent translocation.

** A fairly good strategy for a player with good summoning spells. Some spells are used almost exclusively for Zerg Rushing. Note that [[EnemySummoner enemies with summoning abilities]] will also use this tactic against you.
** Version 0.13 introduced a limit to how many creatures you can summon with an individual spell. You can still pull off a ZergRush, but you'll need to use more than one spell to do it.
** Necromancy is a more straightforward version, allowing you (or your enemies) to raise a great quantity of undead creatures to sweep the floor. Your undead servants can't use stairs, though, so you'll have to make a new shambling horde for each floor. Version 0.17 also made it so your undead minions will eventually fall apart, so make use of them while you have them.

* BareFistedMonk: Monk is a playable class; monk characters begin the game with an amount of latent piety that will improve their religious standing when they eventually find a god to worship. In previous versions, they specialized in unarmed combat; however, they have since been given their choice of light starting weapon (though starting unarmed is still an option if desired).

* MakeMeWannaShout: The Singing Sword occasionally produces waves of sonic energy which blast every enemy in range.

* MultiRangedMaster:
** Similarly, players can master different kinds of ranged weapons, though only throwing weapons and [[SufferTheSlings slings]] crosstrain with each other.
** 0.29 lumped all ranged launchers into a single skill, which governs your ability to use anything from slings to bows to crossbows.

* MushroomMan: Wandering mushrooms are... [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin well, just that]]. They wander around the dungeon, staying out of sight if possible, and freezing when spotted. They can be dangerous if you're forced to engage them in melee combat, though, as they attack by releasing confusion-inducing spores. Followers of Fedhas can grow these to use as allies.

* WarElephants: Herds of wild elephants will appear in the Lair of Beasts. While they shouldn't be too difficult at that point in the game, they can still cause a bit of trouble - they're one of the few enemies that can knock you back and prevent you from taking stairs, which cuts off an often critical means of escape. They can also cross water, making them more difficult to get away from. There are also dire elephants that occasionally show up later in the game. Worse still are ''[[{{Hellhound}} Hell]]''ephants, and in Dungeon Sprint, Nellie the unique Hellephant.

** The last floor of the Vaults is essentially one giant Zerg Rush level. Every single staircase down from the previous level leads to the very center of the floor, where you are immediately ambushed by a giant circle of ''24'' Vault Guards, accompanied by various other generated monsters. Furthermore, there is open space in every direction, meaning that reinforcements will come running immediately. Thinking about escaping up the stairs and luring enemies up a few at a time? Vault Wardens may come along and block access to the stairs, leaving you completely surrounded by a mob of enemy monsters with no escape. A common strategy is to make a break for the corridors around the edges of the level - far from the stairs back up - and to try to gradually whittle the waves of monsters down until you die or emerge victorious.

** Mostly played straight - as in most Roguelikes, characters in Dungeon Crawl regenerate their hit points and magic points over time. Different races also regenerate at different rates: trolls, for example, heal very fast, ghouls stop healing when monsters are present, and deep dwarves won't heal on their own at all. Vampires can switch between healing quickly while "living" and healing slowly while bloodless.
** Various items and spells, like an amulet of regeneration, troll leather armor, or the (now removed) [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Regeneration]] spell, will increase how quickly you regenerate health.
** The Sickness status condition knocks out your natural regeneration for a while. It's generally a good idea to cure it or wait for it to wear off before you start exploring again.

** ''Toenail'' golems?

* LetsFightLikeGentlemen: The Shining One demands this of its followers. In practice, this means that the character worshiping The Shining One is forbidden from using {{Back Stab}}s and punished for using [[BlackMagic necromancy]]. Older versions also included poison in the list of disapproved tactics.

** Worshipping Makhleb allows throwing around destructive blasts of power and summoning demons without having to worry about spell failure from heavy armor, [[EverythingTryingToKillYou though the demons may decide to eat ''your'' face instead of your enemy's]].

* WalkItOff:
** Most characters and monsters have natural regeneration and will gradually heal from almost all wounds. (Ironically, if you use auto-explore, the game will specifically prevent your character from walking anywhere until they are fully healed, as it's usually safest to stay where you are). However, the game also has a couple of aversions to the regeneration mechanic:
** Some creatures can't regenerate at all - this is the main gimmick of the playable deep dwarf species, which has no passive healing ability. Zombies and skeletons also don't regenerate health.
** Ghouls and bloodless vampires only regenerate when there are no enemies around.

* WeaponBasedCharacterization: ''Crawl'' features plenty of different kinds of weaponry with which to bludgeon, bisect, behead, dismember, and otherwise murderize your foes.
** Axes: Axes are fairly strong weapons that can cleave through to hit multiple targets. To compensate, they tend to be fairly slow.
** BareFistedMonk: Fighting bare-handed is perfectly feasible, though it takes quite a bit of skill to be ''good'' at it. It also works well with [[VoluntaryShapeshifting a Transmuter's]] abilities that grant them {{Shapeshifter Weapon}}ry.
** Polearms, while a bit slower and weaker than other weapons, can all reach to hit targets from two spaces away.
** CarryABigStick[=/=]EpicFlail: The Maces & Flails category, which also includes whips and [[DropTheHammer hammers]]. [[BoringButPractical While they may not do anything fancy]], they have several good options for both one- and two-handed use, and ogres, trolls, and formicids can use the phenomenally powerful giant clubs and giant spiked clubs. Also, none of the Maces & Flails will [[HydraProblem chop off hydra heads]].
** CoolSword: Long Blades, which range from the relatively small falchions to [[{{BFS}} great swords]] to the improbably effective [[ImpossiblyCoolWeapon double and triple swords]]. In older versions, long blades could riposte to CounterAttack missed attacks; as of 0.29, their damage scales with dexterity instead of strength, making them well-suited to nimble fighters who prefer dodging attacks over wearing heavy armor.
** DeviousDaggers: Short Blades; many of them are rather longer than a dagger, but they're still considered shorter than the [[CoolSword Long Blades]]. They're very fast and are great for {{Back Stab}}bing things, but have trouble with heavily armored opponents.
** MartialArtsStaff: Comes in three flavors: plain quarterstaves, lajatangs (staves with blades on the ends), and [[MagicStaff magical staves]], which are generally [[MagicWand intended to enhance your spellcasting]], but can have additional effects in combat (for example, a staff of fire will burn things you hit it with, a staff of poison will poison things, etc.). A quarterstaff is an easy and effective weapon for low-level characters, but the scarcity of staves means that your weapon upgrade opportunities will be limited if you choose to specialize in them (compared to, say, swords, which are abundantly available). Additionally, quarterstaves and lajatangs are two-handed weapons, so you won't be able to use a shield with them.
** There are also a variety of ranged weapons available. In previous versions, they were considered different classes of weapons entirely, but 0.29 lumped them all under the same skill. In rough order of strength:
*** SufferTheSlings: Slings are faster than bows or crossbows, but don't do as much damage. On the plus side, they can still be used effectively with a shield.
*** TheArcher: Bows have a good balance between speed and power and are fairly easy to find off of the [[HorseArcher centaurs]] you'll likely be fighting.
*** Crossbows are the most powerful ranged weapons, but also the slowest. There aren't any {{Automatic Crossbow}}s, but a high enough skill level lets you reload one pretty darned fast.
*** Ranged weapons are generally less useful against foes in close quarters, so players will typically [[BowAndSwordInAccord carry a spare melee weapon]] in case they need it.
*** Throwing weapons, including darts, [[BattleBoomerang boomerangs]], and [[JavelinThrower javelins]], are also available. They aren't quite as effective as weapons that require a launcher and supplies are limited, but you don't need a free hand to throw them, they can still do considerable amounts of damage in the hands of a skilled user, and they also have innate properties to make up for the lack of weapon enchantment (darts are tipped with various kinds of [[PoisonedWeapons poison]] that can inflict StatusEffects, [[PrecisionGuidedBoomerang boomerangs return to the user]], and javelins pierce through everything in their path). Ogre-sized players gain access to large rocks, which are some of the most damaging projectiles out there despite having no other special properties.

** Largely {{averted|Trope}}. The first time you meet a centaur, you'll find that arrows are ''not'' merely annoying, since centaurs are good with their bows and can deal a lot of damage. Even worse, centaurs are ''fast''; fast enough to chase you ''and'' fire at you every turn unless you're a fast creature yourself. This means that you can't even easily run away to escape; they will just pursue you and fill you with arrows. Generally, the best way to deal with them (and any other monster that relies on ranged attacks) is to actually run toward them and engage them at close range, tanking the arrow damage as best you can. You can also duck around a corner and wait for them to come to you instead, although enemies are wise to this trick and won't always just blunder directly into a trap.

** If a game lasts a whopping ''two hundred million'' turns, about a thousand times longer than even the slowest player would take to beat the game if they were really trying, the game will tell you that [[EasterEgg the world ended while you were standing around.]]

* AttackDrone:
** You can summon a magical one with the spell Iskenderun's Battlesphere. It fires bolts of unblockable energy at whatever you're currently blasting.
** There's also Spectral Weapon, for {{Magic Knight}}s who want to have a second melee weapon fighting alongside them. Version 0.26 replaced the spell with the spectral brand found on certain weapons; the brand spontaneously generates a copy of your weapon when you hit things with it.

** LawfulGood: [[invoked]]
*** Zin, the god of law, who abhors evil and chaos. Mutations and other chaotic acts displease him.
*** The Shining One as well, who wants followers to fight honorably, i.e. not using sneak attacks. Both gods detest the use of evil artifacts such as demonic weapons, and evil magic such as Necromancy. Together with Zin and Elyvilon, they form the "Good god" alliance.
** NeutralGood: Elyvilon, the god of pacifism. The only god in the game to endorse pacifism, she smiles on followers who pacify monsters rather than murder them. She also detests evil equipment and magic. [[invoked]]
** TrueNeutral: [[invoked]]
*** Okawaru, god of battle. He doesn't care what you do so long as you continue to battle monsters in his name, but he frowns on killing allied creatures, even accidentally.
*** Trog, god of berserk rage, who doesn't give a damn what you do, so long as you regularly kill stuff and don't use spells; and Sif Muna, who wants you to seek magical knowledge but doesn't care what you use it for. Meanwhile, Ru takes the apathy of gods up to eleven: the sacrifices it desires aren't even to Ru directly.
** ChaoticNeutral: [[invoked]]
*** Xom, who doesn't give a damn about you other than as a source of entertainment.
*** Jivya, who just wants to devour everything, but appreciates your contribution to that goal. It and Xom are explicitly tagged as chaotic in the game; Zin hates them, but they don't seem to care much about it in return.
*** Nemelex Xobeh, the trickster god who encourages followers to gamble with CardsOfPower.
** LawfulEvil: Yredelemnul, the dark analogue to the Shining One. It has the most stringent guidelines of the Evil gods, but grants you powerful undead followers if you stick to them. [[invoked]]
** NeutralEvil: [[invoked]]
*** Beogh, the racist and violent god of the orcs, who is tagged as evil by the game.
*** Kikubaaqudgha, the demon-god of Necromancy, is also tagged as evil.
** ChaoticEvil: [[invoked]]
*** Makhleb revels in indiscriminate destruction, accepting all kills, be they evil or good monsters. It will grant you destructive powers if you further this goal, but the powerful demons it lets you summon may turn on you.
*** Lugonu is the god of the chaotic Abyss, tagged as evil in-game, and grants powers dedicated to corrupting the order of the dungeon.

* DurableDeathTrap: Played more or less straight with basic roguelike traps, though the BottomlessMagazines aspect is averted, as projectile-based traps will eventually run out of ammo.

* FunnyAnimal: Averted with Felids, a playable race of sentient cats who lack both humanoid body structure and hands, making them unique among playable characters in being unable to use weapons, thrown items, or even equipment like ''robes'' and ''hats'' which otherwise fit everyone. In older versions, they were even unable to use wands or draw cards from decks.

** The Absolute Zero spell, a level 9 ice spell that instakills whatever monster is closest to you. It's unblockable, undodgeable, and irresistible, but it makes an ''incredibly'' loud noise that ''will'' wake up almost everything else on the level and send them running for you.
** As of 0.27, Absolute Zero has been replaced with Maxwell's Capacitive Coupling, a level 8 air spell that does the same thing, but requires the player to wait (as in do nothing at all) for 3-7 turns while it charges.

* BrainwashedAndCrazy: The wand of enslavement allows you to temporarily mind-control enemies to fight for you.

** By the time a felid has reached level [[ArcNumber 27]] (the maximum), they'll have potentially gained nine extra lives. It's even possible to gain more lives past this point, but as it requires earning amounts of experience following the same curve as the last several levels, gaining further lives is difficult at best.

* ConvectionSchmonvection:
** Played straight. You can stand right next to lava in the game with no ill effects aside from the occasional burst of fire or sight-obscuring smoke, though the lava bordering the edges of certain very hot areas will prevent you from flying over it using convection as a justification.
** Averted with the [[MagmaMan lava orc]] race back when they were in consideration. When they got angry, they turned into liquid magma and their [[WreathedInFlames convected heat]] could do major damage to anything around them.

* EverythingTryingToKillYou: It's a roguelike. Expect to see mice, cockroaches, bats, iguanas, yaks, frogs, newts, wolves... Also, spells and abilities that are supposed to summon friendly allies can potentially do the opposite.

** Warrior-mage - Includes combat-oriented magic classes, such as enemy-hexing enchanters, [[VoluntaryShapeshifting voluntary shapeshifter]] transmuters, and [[MageMarksman arcane marksmen]].

*** Meteorae are perhaps the clearest example. As celestial creatures, they are easily found by the denizens of the dungeon -- they inherently glow, greatly hindering their stealth, and Zot tracks them 10 times faster than any other species, leaving them with little time to explore and fight without suffering a NonStandardGameOver.
** A more literal example: before its removal, you could use Fedhas Madash's sunlight ability to dry up the pools of water you find in the dungeon, possibly resulting in literal fish out of water.

* GoodThingYouCanHeal:
** Inversion: Deep Dwarves have a damage shaving feature that reduces all damage they take, but they [[BlessedWithSuck don't naturally regenerate HP.]] In prior versions, they needed they needed to use magical devices, potions, divine help, or magic to heal. However, instead of starting with a wand of healing and the ability to recharge wands, they can now use their MP to heal, with a 25% of losing 1 permanent MP per heal.
** Played straight with [[OurTrollsAreDifferent Trolls]] and [[PlantPeople Vine Stalkers]]: while their defenses are generally below average, they [[HealingFactor heal quickly enough]] to pull through most fights.

* InfinityPlusOneSword:
** The Axe of Woe, which is only available in the [[GaidenGame Dungeon Sprint]] map "Arena of Blood" (aka Meatsprint), is a literal infinity-powered weapon. It gives you +∞ to both accuracy and damage; this, combined with the cleaving ability of axes, means that each swing instantly kills every enemy next to you. Somehow the map still manages to be a challenge in spite of this — [[NintendoHard it is still]] ''[[NintendoHard Crawl]],'' [[NintendoHard after all]].
** Largely averted in the main game, thanks to randomly generated artifact weapons. Even among the non-random artifacts, weapons tend to be very well balanced with the "best" weapons being largely a matter of your own play style, the current situation, and the type of character you're playing.
*** What's more, there are scrolls of enchant weapon which allow you to permanently increase the abilities of your currently wielded (non-artifact) weapon. The only downside is that the player can't get some of the more exotic abilities that artifacts can get, like the ability to turn invisible, raise enemies slain by the weapon as zombies, etc. As a result, any player-enchanted weapon is more likely to end up as an InfinityMinusOneSword.

*** Really, Xom could be seen as a subversion. Xom is a MadGod who does whatever, but it's not because Xom hates you. Even if Xom becomes bored beyond belief, Xom will still happily accept you back as a favorite toy if you start to be entertaining again. Even if you end up under penance with Xom, there's a 10% chance he'll still do something good for you when deciding to hand out a "punishment".
** Averted by most other gods. No matter how much a god may dislike you doing something (drinking blood for the good gods, destroying plant life for [[MotherNature Fedhas Madash]], etc), they'll usually give you a pass if it was an accident. This is rarer in Roguelikes than you'd think.
** Fedhas, the god of plants, will always be pleased by your contribution to the ecosystem... ''when you die''.
*** Most of the gods have little things like this. For example, dying while worshiping the god of death Yredelemnul results in you becoming a zombie.
** Contrary to what the term "evil" might imply, the dark gods generally avert this - so long as you make regular sacrifices to them and don't go apostate, they'll [[BenevolentBoss shower you with gifts]].

* KatanasAreJustBetter: ''Crawl'' seems to agree. Prior to 0.9, katanas were the second-best one-handed long blades in the game, just under demon swords. As of 0.9, however, the only katana left in the game is an artifact weapon called the Autumn Katana. Granted, the Autumn Katana is still a damn good sword...

** Holy beings such as angels are just as bloodthirsty as demons. Even if you're not actually evil, they'll still attack you on sight with intent to kill and, given how powerful they tend to be, they'll probably succeed at that goal. You can't sneak past them either, thanks to their glowing halo which will illuminate you and make you easy to spot. And if you do manage to kill one of them, [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption your reward is a blast of holy fire courtesy of their god, The Shining One]]. That's right. You get smote with holy fire... ''for defending yourself.''
** The only characters safe from attacks by angels, daevas, and other holy monsters are followers of the three good gods, and even then it only works if your piety is high enough and the being in question isn't having a bad day. What's more, even on the off chance an angel does decide you deserve to live they'll still only become neutral, not friendly, meaning they'll still attack you if you're in their way.
*** As of 0.15, even followers of the good gods are no longer safe from attacks by holy monsters. On the plus side, killing holy monsters no longer gets you smote by The Shining One either.

* TheLostWoods: The Enchanted Forest side-area, which was considered for addition in 0.14, was going to be this - a long and twisting "dark woods" full of spriggans and other fey creatures.

* MageMarksman: The Arcane Marksman background is all about this, starting you with a ranged weapon and a book of various hexes for making it easier to kill foes from a distance. The Portal Projectile spell in particular fits this aesthetic, allowing you to teleport your missiles straight into your targets.

** Transmuters frequently shapeshift and beat monsters down with their newfound [[ShapeshifterWeapon natural weapons]]. Enchanters and Arcane Marksmen debuff their enemies before attacking with weapons. And Warpers can fight, but they've also got an array of Translocations with which to escape sticky situations and control the battlefield.

** Lanolin is highly flammable. [[BaaBomb Thus, Sticky Flame will spread between sheep.]] [[RuleOfFunny Xom (of course) finds this hilarious.]]

*** Some players advise making your copy somewhat more managable by [[WithThisHerring wielding something completely unsuitable as a weapon and/or wearing inferior equipment]], but this is generally considered poor advice. Changing your equipment doesn't affect your copy's spellcasting ability, and fiddling around with your inventory just gives Mara that much more time to kill you, as he's no pushover even without your doppelganger. The best defense with Mara is often a good offense, or better yet, [[DungeonBypass running away]].

* OurMinotaursAreDifferent: [[MassiveRaceSelection And playa]][[IncrediblyLamePun -bull!]] Minotaurs have good aptitudes for all forms of physical combat and can CounterAttack with their horns, but [[MagicallyIneptFighter suck at using magic]]. Meanwhile, enemy minotaurs occasionally appear as heavily-armed and -armored opponents in the deeper parts of the Dungeon, and though [[TheMaze The Labyrinth]] has since been reworked into the less-thematic Gauntlet, a minotaur is always found guarding the exit and the largest pile of loot.
* OurOrcsAreDifferent:
** [[MassiveRaceSelection And playable!]] They're big, brutal, and possess great XP gain. They're also looking for their messiah; orcs following Beogh can become what has been nicknamed "[[MessianicArchetype Orc Jesus]]," complete with walking on water. Of course, [[DarkMessiah a lot of killing is needed to earn that title]].
** There was at one point going to be a second playable race of orcs: the Lava Orc. They're normally {{Rock Monster}}s that look like ash-colored orcs, but [[YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry when they get angry]], they turn into [[MagmaMan living magma]], enhancing their fiery aspects and [[WreathedInFlames burning everything around them]].

** [[ThePhoenix Phoenix]] corpses, if left alone, will spontaneously self-revive in a burst of fire. In order to get rid of it for good, you have to destroy the corpse, either through chopping it up or necromancy.
*** In version 0.16, phoenixes were replaced with Bennu, which are more or less the same thing but with an unholy slant. They revive instantly upon death; this can only happen once, but it generates a burst of unholy flames.

** The signature move of palentongas; they may make rolling attacks at enemies within 4 tiles, bypassing hazardous terrain and hitting with increased power and accuracy. This makes a significant amount of noise, though, so it tends to attract attention.
** Boulder beetles can curl into a ball and roll at you at high speeds, dealing heavy damage if they land a hit. They can also leap away, letting them perform the technique all over again.
*** Before their return in version 0.26, boulder beetles lost all control of their movement while rolling and could be avoided by taking a couple steps to one side, [[DeadlyDodging possibly allowing you to direct them into other enemies]]. Or, you could just [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe block them with your shield]]. Or even [[AttackReflector reflect them]], if you had a shield of reflection!

* ArcNumber: [[http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=27 Crawl seems to have a fondness for the number 27.]] [[OlderThanTheyThink Maybe Linley's a]] [[Music/WeirdAlYankovic Weird Al]] [[OlderThanTheyThink fan.]]

* DualWielding: The player can only wield one weapon at a time. However, some monsters, notably two-headed ogres and ettins, are capable of this. [[WordOfGod The devs have repeatedly stated]] that dual wielding for players is one of the things that will never be implemented in ''Crawl''. Gyre and Gimble, a pair of artifact quick blades strung together with a chain that strikes twice per swing, is probably the closest we're ever going to get.

* {{Nerf}}ing: This tends to happen between versions. Prior to 0.28, one of the most obvious nerfs was for Summoners; the rule was that any monster killed by a player's summon is worth only half the experience it would be otherwise. In particular, the devs like to nerf anything that's considered obviously better than any other choice and ends up being [[ComplacentGamingSyndrome used regardless of your play style]]. The halving of extra damage done by vorpal weapons and removal of the "Detect Creatures" spell fall into this category, as did the removal of the "Tomb of Doroklohe" spell in the first Stone Soup versions.

* OurGeniesAreDifferent: [[MassiveRaceSelection And playable!]] Their original iteration was [[DummiedOut added and removed between updates]], but djinn are now in the game properly as of 0.27. The current djinni race have FogFeet like the genie from WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} (though ''Crawl's'' djinn are red, not blue). They are also highly resistant to fire, weak to cold, and immune to poison. Their most notable traits, however, are that [[CastFromHitPoints their spells cost HP]] instead of MP (which they don't have); they do not learn spells from spellbooks -- instead, they naturally learn one random spell every other level; and they only apply their Spellcasting skill when using magic (ignoring the other magic skills entirely).

* [[{{Halfling}} Our Halflings Are Different]]: [[DummiedOut And no longer playable]], having been replaced by [[OurGeniesAreDifferent Djinn]] in version 0.27. Back when they were still around, they leveled up quickly, were sneaky, excellent with slings, and were surprisingly sturdy for a small race. In previous versions, they were a JokeCharacter race, but this has since improved.

** [[DummiedOut There was at one point]] going to be a second playable race of orcs: the Lava Orc. They're normally {{Rock Monster}}s that look like ash-colored orcs, but [[YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry when they get angry]], they turn into [[MagmaMan living magma]], enhancing their fiery aspects and [[WreathedInFlames burning everything around them]].

** Moths of suppression, which have since been DummiedOut, emitted an aura that negated any sort of magical enchantment on your items. That amazing magic FlamingSword that let you fly and gave you resistance to electricity was just a sharp piece of metal while within said aura.

** A lot of the mutations you can get in the game are quite useful. A lot of them are quite {{Squick}}y. These two groups are not mutually exclusive.

** Crawl is notorious for featuring gods and monsters with names that are hard to spell correctly and often equally hard to pronounce: Kikubaaqudgha, Yredelemnul, Neqoxec, Ynoxinul, Ilsuiw... According to WordOfGod, the name of one kind of demon, the sixfirhy, was actually produced by a cat walking on a keyboard (though the original string of characters[[note]]sxFR:?)hyyyyyyyy-\-[[/note]] had to be cleaned up a bit).

* BladeOnAStick: ''Crawl'' has a variety of polearms, which are usually slower/less accurate than other weapons but make up for this by having the ability to reach an extra tile when attacking. The spear is the simplest and most common, but there are also halberds, tridents ([[DevilsPitchfork some of demonic origin]]), [[SinisterScythe scythes]], glaives, and bardiches.

** [[CarryABigStick Maces & Flails]] don't do anything special like other kinds of weapons ([[CoolSword Long Blades]] use dexterity instead of strength, Axes can cleave to hit multiple creatures at once, [[BladeOnAStick Polearms]] give your attacks a longer reach), but they feature solid, dependable damage at decent speed for moderate skill investment.

* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: [[MassiveRaceSelection And playable!]] They're of the "tails transform into legs" type, and are as capable on land as any other race. They get major bonuses to speed and evasion in water, and they have ''the'' best [[BladeOnAStick polearms]] aptitude of any race. They're also not bad with [[CoolSword long blades]], which complement their nimble builds.

** BladeOnAStick: Polearms, while a bit slower and weaker than other weapons, can all reach to hit targets from two spaces away.

* OurCentaursAreDifferent: [[MassiveRaceSelection And playable!]] Or, at least, they ''were'' until version 0.26. They were fast and deadly archers, but body armor didn't protect them well, and they had poor aptitudes for skills that didn't involve ranged weaponry. Enemy centaurs are still around, though, and very much retain their speed and prowess with bows.

* OurGargoylesRock: [[MassiveRaceSelection And are playable!]] They're decent with melee combat and earth magic and have a host of natural abilities including natural armor, immunity to poison and [[TakenForGranite petrification]], resistance to electricity and negative energies, and no need to breathe. On the flip side, they gain much less hit points per level then other races and are ''horribly'' vulnerable to the Lee's Rapid Deconstruction spell found on some late-game monsters.

** [[RunningGag And playable]] -- not as a race, but as a form. The player can learn the Necromutation spell, which will result in a temporary transformation into a lich. As a result, the player gains improved stats, a fairly potent draining touch and the various resistances and vulnerabilities associated with being undead. There are downsides, though: you can't drink potions anymore, and if you worship one of the good gods and cast the spell, you're instantly excommunicated (though you'd already be in hot water with your god for spending so much time learning Necromancy to begin with).

* OurManticoresAreSpinier: They can flick volleys of spikes at you, which become lodged in your body and make moving painful. However, they are not venomous.

* OurOgresAreHungrier: Not so much now that the hunger system is gone, [[MassiveRaceSelection but they're still playable.]] They're not {{Smash Mook}}s, however, but {{Glass Cannon}}s due to their combination of massive strength and inability to wear armor. They are capable of wielding the largest weapons in the game, and make surprisingly [[GeniusBruiser competent mages]] as well, with only slight penalties to learning and using magic.

*** The potion of lignification turns the player into a tree, rooting them to the ground. This is obviously a disadvantage if you're trying to escape, but being a tree comes with the perks of increased durability, resistance to poison, and complete immunity to negative energies.
*** The potion of ambrosia temporarily grants you vastly increased health regeneration and mana regeneration... but also inflicts confusion for the same duration, making it very difficult to fight.

* PowerAtAPrice: This is the entire modus operandi of Ru, god of sacrifices. If you worship Ru, it will watch you as you fight through the dungeon, and will periodically give you a choice of sacrifices to make. These are always fundamental aspects of your being without which you are weaker; for example, you can sacrifice your natural resistance to the elements, making you vulnerable to fire and cold. The bigger the personal sacrifice, the more Ru will reward you with divine powers.

** In practice, player gnolls gravitate towards this type of gameplay. They learn all skills equally while leveling up but cannot specialize; this allows them to easily make use of any kind of light weapon or lower-level spell, but heavy weapons or high-level spells are generally too unwieldly to use.

** CarryABigStick[=/=]EpicFlail: The Maces & Flails category, which also includes [[WhipItGood whips]] and [[DropTheHammer hammers]]. [[BoringButPractical While they may not do anything fancy]], they have several good options for both one- and two-handed use, and ogres, trolls, and formicids can use the phenomenally powerful giant clubs and giant spiked clubs. Also, none of the Maces & Flails will [[HydraProblem chop off hydra heads]].

* WhipItGood: Whips are fairly swift weapons that are good in the early game but pack fairly little punch against tougher foes. However, some whips are [[ForgedByTheGods demonic or heavenly]] in origin, and are extremely devastating weapons.

* GeniusBruiser: Ogre magi are ogres which, unlike most ogres which only know how to hit people with heavy weapons, are intelligent enough to use magic. Player ogres are something between standard ogres and ogre magi - they are moderate at both hitting and casting. A second example of this would be martial characters who have learned magical skill.

** Spellcasters are typically these - many spells are extremely powerful, but spellcasters themselves tend to have lower hit points than melee characters and (due to spell failure chance) [[ArmorAndMagicDontMix rarely wear much armor]].

* GravityMaster: Warpers (wizards specializing in Translocation magic) have some aspects of this. They can manipulate gravity to compress groups of enemies together, and some of their spells bend and warp space for various effects.

** Finally, Pandemonium is another infinite realm, where each level is different and you can never revisit a level. It's the home of the greatest demons, and ''each level'' is guarded by a mighty demon lord; while there's infinite experience and loot to be found here, it's the most dangerous area in the game and grinding here really isn't worth it. There are five runes here. Paradoxically, this is also the home realm of the Shining One, and one level is dedicated to its holy fortress. ([[HolyIsNotSafe It's still not a safe place to be.]])

* HilarityEnsues: The motivation for most of Xom's divine interventions. Followers of Xom can actually hear him snickering.

** The Shining One's followers eventually receive one. It serves several purposes: monsters inside the halo are easier to hit, invisible creatures turn visible, and your stealth is crippled (which isn't that bad, given that The Shining One dislikes stealth attacks anyway). Holy [=NPCs=] such as angels have similar halos.

* HumanShield: If under ranged attack, you can try to use another enemy as cover. Of course, this only works if your attacker actually cares about collateral damage; dragons will happily incinerate allies to get to you.

** Summon Ice Beast: Summons an ice beast, granting you a fairly durable ally with a moderate freezing attack that also happens to be immune to any other cold-based magic you might be slinging around.

* ImpossiblyCoolWeapon: [[CoolSword Double and triple swords]], weapons stated to be forged by a master smith at the joking suggestion of a knight. Version 0.14 replaced them with the more sensible (but less awesome) bastard sword and claymore, but they were brought back for version 0.16.

** Toenail golems?

* InformedAttribute: A few of the unique enemies have little bits in their descriptions which are interesting but don't come up in dialogue or combat. The fact that it's only informed is often justified as there's not much opportunity to witness these traits while in combat.

* KillerRabbit: Sometimes, you can encounter a winding passage containing the skeletons of dead humans. If you follow the passageway to the end, you eventually find a single frilled lizard, the weakest enemy in the game, implying that this tiny lizard somehow overpowered and slaughtered several adventurers.

** Almost every spell in the Fire Magic school is an offensive conjuration spell, except for one spell (Conjure Flame) that is intended to be used defensively, and even then you can still use it to deal heavy amounts of damage. So, basically, if you're using Fire Magic, you don't have many options besides using it to kill stuff.

** In old versions, some the items you found could be cursed (ie. you can't remove them), yet were still actually beneficial or provide a positive effect.

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: [[OverlyLongGag And playable!]] Crawl's vampires can voluntarily switch between being alive and undead, by either shedding or replenishing all their blood. A "living" vampire has enhanced healing, but otherwise has the same vulnerabilities as any living creature in addition to weaknesses to [[HolyBurnsEvil holy weapons and magic]]. An undead vampire is frail and doesn't heal very well, but is incredibly stealthy, resists many things that would harm a living creature, and can transform into a bat if they need a quick escape.

* GenderNeutralWriting:
** The gods in the game are supposed to be beyond gender, and thus it's wrong to refer to them as male or female. There are no mentions of gender on the gods' description screens, even though {{fanon}} tends to refer to Lugonu, Elyvilon, and Sif Muna as female and the rest as male. Also applies to generic monsters, although there it’s more due to convenience than any in-game reason. Averted in the case of unique monsters, as those generally have established genders (though some uniques like the [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils named Pandemonium Lords]] still lack defined genders).
** Crawl also [[FeaturelessProtagonist doesn't assign the player character a gender]], though you can generally pick between a male or female VirtualPaperDoll if you're playing tiles.