Box of beasts: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 04:55, 3 November 2025

Version 0.33: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Type	Miscellaneous item
Name	box of beasts
Icon

A box filled with the bizarre leftovers of a depraved wizard's magical experimentations. Opening it might set loose a friendly mutant beast: bizarre creatures, each with their own combination of traits. Increased skill with Evocations will allow stronger beasts to be released.

There are six known traits:

Bat beasts fly and move very quickly, but erratically.
Fire beasts resist and breathe fire.
Ox beasts resist cold, are armoured with thick fur, and can knock back foes.
Shock beasts resist electricity and can transform into living lightning.
Sting beasts resist poison and have a reaching poison-tail attack.
Weird beasts can see invisible and attack with constricting tentacles.

As far as anyone knows, all beasts have exactly two of these traits.

A box of beasts is a miscellaneous magic item which can summon an irregular, albeit friendly, monster, classified generally as a mutant beast. The box of beasts becomes empty after one use; it can be recharged by gaining experience.

It is mutually exclusive with the sack of spiders.

Mutant Beast

A mutant beast usually combines two random traits/facets:

Bat: flying, fast, batty.
Sting: reach/poison, rPois.
Fire: fire breath, rF.
Weird: constrict, sInv.
Shock: rElec, blinkbolt.
Ox: trample, rC, +5 AC.

Each beast also has one of five tiers, corresponding to HD and melee attack damage.

Larval (HD 3) (12 damage)
Juvenile (HD 9) (19 damage)
Mature (HD 15) (26 damage)
Elder (HD 21) (33 damage)
Primal (HD 27) (40 damage)

HD of mutant beasts is roughly (Evocations skill + 1d7 - 1d7), rounded up to the nearest tier & capped at 27.

History

Prior to 0.26, boxes of beasts had a 1/3 chance to fall apart after every use and didn't recharge with XP.
Prior to 0.19, boxes of beasts didn't stack.
Prior to 0.17, a box of beasts would instead summon a chimera.
In 0.16, box of beasts became considerably stronger than before.
Prior to 0.13 this item summoned individual (non-chimera) monsters.
Prior to 0.9, it appeared as a small ebony casket while unidentified.

Miscellaneous Evocables
Figurine of a ziggurat • Horn of Geryon • Lightning rod • Phantom mirror Phial of floods / Gell's gravitambourine • Condenser vane / Tin of tremorstones • Box of beasts / Sack of spiders

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+{{version033}}
 {{item
   |itemtype=Miscellaneous item
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+{{flavour|A box filled with the bizarre leftovers of a depraved wizard's magical experimentations. Opening it might set loose a friendly mutant beast: bizarre creatures, each with their own combination of traits. Increased skill with Evocations will allow stronger beasts to be released.
+<br/>
+There are six known traits:
+*Bat beasts fly and move very quickly, but erratically.
+*Fire beasts resist and breathe fire.
+*Ox beasts resist cold, are armoured with thick fur, and can knock back foes.
+*Shock beasts resist electricity and can transform into living lightning.
+*Sting beasts resist poison and have a reaching poison-tail attack.
+*Weird beasts can see invisible and attack with constricting tentacles.
+<br/>
+As far as anyone knows, all beasts have exactly two of these traits.}}
-{{flavour|A magical box containing many wild beasts. One may allow them to escape by opening the box's lid.}}
+A '''box of beasts''' is a [[evocable items|miscellaneous magic item]] which can summon an irregular, albeit friendly, monster, classified generally as a mutant beast. The box of beasts becomes empty after one use; it can be recharged by gaining experience.
-A '''box of beasts''' is a miscellaneous magic item which can summon a (generally) friendly companion.
+It is [[item set|mutually exclusive]] with the [[sack of spiders]].
-==Operation==
+==Mutant Beast==
-The player has a 60+[[Evocations]]% chance of successfully evoking the box of beasts. This will create one monster from the following list (equal odds):
+A mutant beast usually combines two random traits/facets:
-[[butterfly]], [[bat]], [[hound]], [[jackal]], [[rat]], [[ice beast]], [[snake]], [[yak]], [[water moccasin]], [[crocodile]], [[hell hound]]. (Hell hound is not an option if you worship a [[good]] god.) The chance of the beast being friendly is (4+Evocations)/(5+Evocations).
+*Bat: [[flying]], [[fast]], [[batty]].
-{| class="prettytable" style="text-align: center; border:none; margin:auto; padding:0;"
+*Sting: [[Reaching|reach]]/[[poison|poison]], rPois.
-! Evocations || Success Rate || Friendly
+*Fire: [[Fire Breath|fire breath]], rF.
-|-
+*Weird: [[constrict]], [[See invisible|sInv]].
-| 0 || 60% || 80%
+*Shock: rElec, [[blinkbolt]].
-|-
+*Ox: [[trample]], rC, +5 AC.
-| 5 || 65% || 90%
-|-
-| 10 || 70% || 93%
-|-
-| 15 || 75% || 95%
-|-
-| 20 || 80% || 96%
-|-
-| 27 || 87% || 97%
-|}
-As elsewhere, killing a hostile summons will grant no experience points.  If your attempt to use the box fails, there is a 16.7% chance that the box's magic will be exhausted, turning it into a simple '''empty ebony casket'''. [[Xom]] is mildly amused (maximum excitement 14) by the successful use of a box of beasts.
+Each beast also has one of five tiers, corresponding to HD and melee attack damage.
+*Larval (HD 3) (12 damage)
+*Juvenile (HD 9) (19 damage)
+*Mature (HD 15) (26 damage)
+*Elder (HD 21) (33 damage)
+*Primal (HD 27) (40 damage)
+[[HD]] of mutant beasts is roughly <code>(Evocations skill + 1d7 - 1d7)</code>, rounded up to the nearest tier & capped at 27.
 ==History==
-Prior to [[0.9]], it appeared as a '''small ebony casket''' while unidentified.
+*Prior to [[0.26]], boxes of beasts had a 1/3 chance to fall apart after every use and didn't recharge with XP.
+*Prior to [[0.19]], boxes of beasts didn't stack.
+*Prior to [[0.17]], a box of beasts would instead summon a [[chimera]].
+*In [[0.16]], box of beasts became considerably stronger than before.
+*Prior to [[0.13]] this item summoned individual (non-chimera) monsters.
+*Prior to [[0.9]], it appeared as a '''small ebony casket''' while unidentified.
+{{Evocables}}