Tengu

Version 0.12: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

This page is about the player species. For the monster, see Tengu (monster). For a list of all monstrous tengu, see List of tengu.

The Tengu are an ancient and feared species of bird-people with a legendary propensity for violence. Basically humanoid with bird-like heads and clawed feet, the Tengu can wear all types of armour except helmets and boots. Despite their lack of wings, powerful Tengu can fly, and very powerful members of this species can stay in the air for as long as they wish to do so. Their movement is a bit faster than normal while flying. They are experts at all forms of fighting, including the magical arts of combat (conjurations, summonings and, to a lesser extent, necromancy). They are good at air and fire elemental magic, but poor at ice and earth magic. Tengu do not appreciate any form of servitude, and so are poor at using invocations. Their light avian bodies cannot sustain a great deal of injury.

Innate Abilities

• Beak and Talons 3: Tengu have beaks and talons and gain two auxiliary attacks in melee combat.
• Tengu cannot wear helmets or boots
• Tengu get a +20% bonus to evasion and a bonus to movement while flying.

Preferred Backgrounds

• Warriors: Fighter, Gladiator, Monk, Assassin
• Zealots: Berserker, Death Knight
• Mages: Wizard, Conjurer, Summoner, Necromancer, Fire Elementalist, Air Elementalist, Venom Mage

Level Bonuses

• +1 to a random stat every 4th level.
• 20% less HP than average.
• 10% more MP than average.
• +3 magic resistance per level.
• Gain the ability to Fly short distances at level 5.
  • This is upgraded to the ability to stay permanently airborne at level 15.

Difficulty of Play

Tengu are a fairly easy race to play because of their versatility in both melee and magical combat, of which they have some of the best aptitudes in the game. Tengu also gain a bonus to unarmed combat because of their mutations, and can fly. They are quite fragile because of their low HP and inability to wear boots or helmets, although the EV bonus while flying can help to offset this problem.

Caster tengu have the best reasons to choose Vehumet over Sif Muna, as they have strong aptitudes in Conjurations, and are bad at Invocations. All of Vehumet's powers are passive.

Skill aptitudes

The higher the value, the better the aptitude.

Skill	Aptitude	Skill	Aptitude	Skill	Aptitude
Attack		Miscellaneous		Magic
Fighting	0	Armour	1	Spellcasting	-1
Short Blades	1	Dodging	1	Conjurations	3
Long Blades	1	Stealth	1	Hexes	-3
Axes	1	Stabbing	1	Charms	-2
Maces & Flails	1	Shields	0	Summonings	2
Polearms	1	Traps	0	Necromancy	1
Staves	1			Translocations	-2
Unarmed Combat	1			Transmutation	-2
		Fire Magic	1
Throwing	1	Ice Magic	-1	Invocations	-1
Slings	0	Air Magic	3	Evocations	1
Bows	1	Earth Magic	-3
Crossbows	1	Poison Magic	0	Experience	0

Trivia

Tengu are a type of legendary creature in Japanese folk religion traditionally depicted with both human and avian characteristics.

History

Prior to 0.12, tengu received the speed bonus while flying only with less than 70% of their unencumbered burden, and gained experience slightly slower.

Prior to 0.11, tengu lost the ability to fly when not in their natural form.

Prior to 0.10, tengu were named kenku.