View source for The Shining One

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[[File:The shining one altar.png]] "Lead the forces of light to victory!"''
{{flavour|Followers of the Shining One are bound to the code of the honourable warrior, soldiers in their god's eternal crusade against evil. For forsaking dark magic and underhanded tactics, the Shining One rewards them and their allies with the power they need to slay demons and the undead. Especially devout warriors can even call upon angels in times of need. The Shining One's followers can convert to Elyvilon or Zin while keeping some piety.

Followers of the Shining One are surrounded by a halo that reveals their enemies to them. Followers will gain power by killing evil beings, and with growing piety their life force will be protected. The Shining One will keep summoned and charmed allies on their side longer, should the allies prove worthy of the crusade. Followers will gain use of a divine shield to protect them in battle. Later, they can channel blasts of cleansing flame that are particularly damaging to unholy beings, and can call upon powerful divine beings as temporary allies. Highly pious followers may request the Shining One's blessing upon a weapon. The Shining One may occasionally directly intervene to save a follower's life.

The Shining One likes it when you kill the undead, you kill demons, you kill evil beings and you encounter other hostile creatures.

The Shining One strongly dislikes it when you use evil magic or items, you attack non-hostile holy beings, you attack neutral beings, you attack allies or you kill non-hostile holy beings.}}

==Racial Restrictions==
*Like the other [[good god]]s, The Shining One does not accept [[Demonspawn]] or undead species ([[Revenant]]s, [[Poltergeist]]s, [[Mummies]]) as followers.
*[[Demigod]]s may not worship The Shining One (or any other god).

==Appreciates==
*You or your allies killing the undead, demons, or evil creatures (such as followers of evil gods). Chance of +1 [[piety]], higher chance for creatures with high [[HD]].
*Encountering non-evil monsters you've never encountered before.

==Prevents==
*The Shining One prevents you from attacking in unchivalrous manner - ie, [[stabbing]]. Your attack will still take place, but you will receive no stabbing benefit.
*While not a direct conduct, worshippers are given a [[halo]], which prevents the ability to go [[invisible]].

==Deprecates==
*Inactivity: You lose 1 piety per 700 turns, on average (1/35 chance every 20 turns).

The Shining One strongly dislikes it (i.e. [[penance]]) when:
*You use [[Necromancy]].
*You use [[unholy]] magic or items.
*You attack neutral beings.
*You attack allies.

Note that equipment that violates the Shining One's commandments will be printed in red, be labeled in its (in-game) description, and you'll receive a warning before doing a transgression. Also, the Shining One will forgive accidental transgressions (i.e. performing a forbidden action via an unidentified item).

==Given Abilities==
'''[[Piety|Piety level -]]''': "Acolyte"
*'''Protection from harm''' - If you receive lethal damage, there's a piety-based chance that the Shining One may nullify the damage (at the cost of reducing your piety). This is possible even if you're under penance. The chance increases linearly from 10% at 0 piety to 28% at maximum. (Passive)
*'''Divine Halo''' - You are surrounded by a [[halo]]. It starts off only illuminating you, but it grows in size every <code>piety/20</code> tiles, extending to your full [[line of sight]]. Enemies inside the halo become easier to hit, and both you and monsters are revealed if [[invisible]]. Also, your [[stealth]] is divided by x2.5. (Passive)
*'''Protection from negative energy''' - The Shining One provides [[negative energy]] resistance. This improves as piety rises, up to rN+++ at full piety. (Passive)
In addition, the Shining One protects your allies:
*'''Protection against abjuration''' - When [[Abjuration]] is cast against your summoned servants, the power (duration reduction) is reduced, depending on your servant's HD. (Passive)
*'''Bless Allies''' - The Shining One may bless one of your allies when it kills an enemy or gains experience. The chance for this rises with your piety. The following blessings are possible:
**10%: Give the ally's weapon increased accuracy, damage, and the [[holy wrath]] brand OR give the ally's armour increased [[AC]] and [[negative energy resistance]].
**90%: Increase the duration of your ally's stay, with a 50% chance to remove [[poison]], [[sickness]], [[confusion]], [[slow]]ing, or [[exhaustion]]. If none apply, heals 25% of its HP.

'''[[Piety|Piety level *]]''': "Righteous"
*'''Gain power from killing''' - You sometimes regain HP and MP whenever you kill demons, the undead, and evil creatures. You have a <code>30 + (50 * (max(piety - 30, 130)/130)</code>% (max. 80% at 160 piety) chance of healing <code>1d(2*HD + 1) - 1 HP</code> HP and <code>1d(2 + HD/3) - 1 MP</code> MP when killing valid monsters.<ref>{{source ref|0.31.0|mon-death.cc|2122}}</ref><ref>{{source ref|0.31.0|mon-death.cc|2126}}</ref> (Passive)
*<span id="divine_shield"></span>'''Divine Shield''' - Grants a divine shield that will always block the next <code>3 + 2*Invocations/5</code> blockable attacks,<ref>{{source ref|0.33.1|god-abil.cc|1331}}</ref> rounded in a weighted fashion, ignoring the block limit. In addition, ranged attacks are [[reflection|reflected]] and melee attackers have a 50% chance to be [[blind]]ed for 3-5 turns. The ability's block count decrements even if you would've blocked or dodged without it. The number of blocks is displayed in the status bar and has no time limit. It is controlled by TSO, so it can be used even if you wield a two-handed weapon, cannot hold a shield, have no SH, etc. (3 MP and 3-4 piety)
'''[[Piety|Piety level **]]''': "Unflinching"
*No new abilities.
'''[[Piety|Piety level ***]]''': "Holy Warrior"
*<span id="cleansing_flame"></span>'''Cleansing Flame''' - Creates a large burst of holy energy centered on yourself, dealing unavoidable holy damage to all monsters around you. This affects all monsters within two spaces of you. Your Invocations skill increases damage dealt and chance of success. Because this ability emits holy energy, it does double damage to demons and undead, normal damage to other creatures, and no damage to holy beings, neutral creatures, or allies. Base damage is <code>2d(10 + Invocations * 7/6)</code>.<ref>{{source ref|0.31.0|spl-goditem.cc|1260}}</ref><ref>{{source ref|0.31.0|ability.cc|2797}}</ref> (5 MP and 2-3 piety)
'''[[Piety|Piety level ****]]''': "Exorcist"
*No new abilities.
'''[[Piety|Piety level *****]]''': "Demon Slayer"
*'''Summon Divine Warrior''' - Summons a friendly [[Angel]] or [[Daeva]]. (8 MP and 6-9 piety)
'''[[Piety|Piety level ******]]''': "Bringer of Light"
*'''Brand Weapon With Holy Wrath''' - the Shining One can bless a non-artifact weapon. This will add +2 to its enchantment level (not exceeding the maximum of +9) and add the [[holy wrath]] brand (replacing any existing brand). [[Demon whip]]s will become [[sacred scourge]]s, [[demon blade]]s will become [[eudemon blade]]s, and [[demon trident]]s will become [[trishula]]s. [[Holy Word]] is cast when you bless a weapon. Doing this has no cost, but it can only be invoked once per game.

==Punishments==
{{flavour|The Shining One forgives followers for abandonment; however, those who later take up the worship of an evil god will be punished. (Kikubaaqudgha, Yredelemnul, Makhleb, Lugonu, and Beogh are evil gods.)

The Shining One's wrath is straightforward and unmistakable. Its victims find themselves smote with holy fire and beset with holy warriors. Sinners will be silenced, and the Shining One will also shout to alert the victim's foes.

The Shining One's wrath lasts for a relatively short duration.}}

The Shining One will only punish you if you convert to an evil god ([[Beogh]], [[Kikubaaqudgha]], [[Lugonu]], [[Makhleb]], or [[Yredelemnul]]). Switching to other gods or violating TSO's conduct will not result in any wrath, and converting to [[Elyvilon]] or [[Zin]] will transfer half of your piety to them.

The possible forms of [[divine retribution]] include:

*Summoning hostile, [[durably summoned]] [[angel]]s or [[daeva]]s.
*Triggering a Cleansing Flame against you.
*Making a loud [[noise]] at your location.
*[[Silence|Silencing]] you for 10-35 turns.

==Strategy==
===Extended===
The Shining One performs the best in the [[extended game]], where evil monsters (demons/undead) are incredibly common. With so many evil creatures, this god really ''shines'':
*Piety gain is rapid. You can get from 0* to 5* or 6* just by doing [[the Crypt]].
*Healing on kills help you recover quickly. Most relevant in [[Pandemonium]], which has random areas and respawning monsters (making it hard to rest).
*Cleansing Flame is a very powerful AOE against evil creatures, if you have high Invocations skill. It hits a 2-radius area and never misses - allowing you to finish off that [[tormentor]] or [[hellion]] without the chance of missing.
*[[Holy wrath]] is the strongest brand against demons. Also, guaranteed rN+++ is nice, it can also free up inventory slots.

Players will often switch to TSO once they reach the extended part of the game; common gods to switch from include [[Okawaru]], [[Trog]], and [[Yredelemnul]]. You can deal with your old god's [[divine retribution|wrath]] by going to places like [[the Crypt]] and [[the Abyss]] (both rife with evil monsters).

===Pre-extended===
The Shining One is a decent, if not the best, god for the earlier stages of the game. The halo increases accuracy - both yours and your [[allies]]. Divine Shield comes early is generally useful; Divine Warriors are powerful enough for most of the game.

However, TSO is often considered a weaker choice, due to having slower piety gain than many other gods. TSO also actively hurts you on first worship; at 0*, you'll lose stealth, invisibility, and the ability to [[stab]], for no benefit in return. Overall, TSO is a ''passable'' god, but not the greatest. Keep in mind that TSO itself is safe to abandon; you won't get wrath unless you switch to an [[evil]] god later. So if you get TSO from a [[faded altar]], no need to fret.

You'll also get reduced stealth and have to deal with several conducts, as you'll be unable to stab, go invisible, or use evil items/spells. This can matter significantly for certain starts, namely [[Hedge Wizard]]/[[Summoner]] (who start with [[Call Imp]]) and [[Necromancer]].

===Tips & Tricks===
When worshipping the Shining One, keep the following in mind:
*Make sure you bless a weapon before taking on the [[Hells]] or [[Pandemonium]]. The best choice is usually either a [[broad axe]], [[executioner's axe]], [[bardiche]], [[demon trident]], [[demon whip]], [[eveningstar]], or [[demon blade]]. Ranged weapon users can do quite well by blessing their best ranged weapon, from [[longbow]], [[hand cannon]], or [[triple crossbow]].
*Divine Shield is relatively best against slow attacking enemies like [[ogre (monster)|ogres]], and is poor against enemies with many attacks.
*Don't underestimate the Cleansing Flame ability; it can deal very respectable area-of-effect damage once you reach high Invocations. When surrounded by demons, one or two uses will quickly clear out the weaker pests, provide quick healing, pay for its own MP/piety cost, and deal significant unavoidable damage to any [[Fiend]]s or worse that are in range. A [[haste]]d TSO worshiper spamming full power Cleansing Flames can take down all but the hardiest end-game bosses.
*TSO's Bless Allies effect doesn't just affect the angels and daevas TSO sends your way; ''any'' ally will be protected from Abjuration and blessed when it gets kills.
*One of the more annoying aspects of being a worshiper of the Shining One is fighting in a chivalrous manner. Fortunately, all situations that don't outright prevent you from acting unchivalrous will warn you if you attempt them (such as trying to act while confused when it might cause you to attack an ally).

==History==
{{CBA|0.35|Current blessings for the player's allies will be removed. Instead summons will keep their presence longer when fighting evil monsters and injured allies can get a divine shield, functioning similar to current invocation, when the player directly kills a monster.}} <ref>{{Commit ref|0f18ef63|0.35|Replacement for TSO's ally blessing effects.}}</ref>
*Prior to [[0.32]]:
**TSO's halo made your allies easier to hit.
**Divine Shield increased [[SH]] instead of providing guaranteed blocks with special effects. It also had a higher starting failure rate, but cost less piety.
**The chance to recover HP/MP on kill scaled slower, capping out at 80% at 200 piety.
*Prior to [[0.28]], Divine Shield was available at 2* piety, and Cleansing Flame at 4* piety.
*Prior to [[0.27]], branding a weapon with holy wrath would un-[[curse]] it.
*Prior to [[0.26]], the three good gods forbid [[cannibalism]].
*Prior to [[0.20]], TSO disapproved of poison and stabbing [[:Category:Human intelligence|intelligent]] monsters (with stabbing not outright prevented). Cleansing Flame was also weaker and did half damage to non-evil monsters.
*Prior to [[0.19]], the Shining One would inflict penance if the player desecrated holy corpses or committed cannibalism; these were not outright forbidden.
*Prior to [[0.16]], the Shining One could create enhanced-stat versions of Long Blades with max piety (called [[blessed blade]]s). TSO's Divine Shield also used to benefit from training in the [[Shields (skill)|Shields skill]].
*Prior to [[0.15]], followers of the Shining One were occasionally seen as allies by [[:Category:Holy holiness|holy monsters]]. The chance of this recognition rose with piety. Also, blessing a weapon would affect it as though you'd just read a [[scroll of enchant weapon III]] rather than giving it a flat +2 enchantment level.
*Prior to [[0.10]], followers of the Shining One gained piety passively, up to a limit, and piety did not decay.
*Prior to [[0.8]], the [[paladin]] background started the game worshiping the Shining One.
*Prior to [[0.4]], TSO would occasionally gift permanent allies.

==References==
<references/>

{{gods}}
[[Category:Good Gods]]