History YMMV / DungeonCrawl

* CompleteMonster: Some people believe that [[VillainProtagonist the player character]] is this, due to the [[OmnicidalManiac amount of slaughter]] a game of Crawl involves. Sure, all the inhabitants of the orcish mines are [[EverythingTryingToKillYou trying to kill you]], but no one ''told you'' to burst into their home and start swinging your sword every which way, now did they? And what about [[ShootTheDog all those dogs you killed]] for the experience? And all for what? So you can get your hands on an ArtifactOfDoom that you know nothing about? YouMonster!

** Some people, it needs to be emphasized. Theses ''are'' [[AbsoluteXenophobe orcs]], after all, and the Good Gods really don't seem to care about the death.

** Nemelex Xobeh also qualifies if you know what you are doing. The legendary versions of his decks, along with high piety, a decent envocation skill, and liberal use of his gifted abilities essentially turn any PC (even purely melee focused characters) into an epic level mage. Capable of summoning literally dozens of creatures, in combat, with a zero chance of being hostile for a paltry 2 mana or blasting several of the strongest spells in the game better than an equal level wizard could. Not to mention powers possessed no where else in the game, such as the ability to create food out of nothing. On top of all this old Nemelex has a grand total of one real rule (using combat oriented cards when there's no one hostile around), meaning the only real way to get excommunicated is to stand around for tens of thousands of turns with out sacrificing anything to him or using cards in combat. Something a player is never going to do.

* CompleteMonster: Some people believe that the player character is this, due to the levels of slaughter a game of Crawl involves. Sure, all the inhabitants of the orcish mines are [[EverythingTryingToKillYou trying to kill you]], but no one ''told you'' to burst into their home and start swinging your sword every which way, now did they? And what about [[ShootTheDog all those dogs you killed]] for the experience? And all for what? So you can get your hands on an ArtifactOfDoom that you know nothing about? YouMonster!

** The Ecumenical Temple, an early area which contains nothing but a bunch of altars, so your character can choose a god. No enemies will ever spawn here (though some enemies can follow you in) which is why many players use the temple for resting and for keeping their stash. (Similarly some players keep a stash in the lair, since none of the creatures that spawn there can use items.)

* ThatOneLevel: Hell, which also qualifies as BonusLevelOfHell, as befits its name. To even enter you need to kill the archdemon Geryon, who almost qualifies as a ThatOneBoss thanks to his EnemySummoner nature. Once he's down you have your pick of four equally lethal regions: the iron city of Dis, the fiery Gehenna, the undead-filled Tartarus, and the icy Cocytus. Each region is filled with hordes of demons, including large numbers of tier 1 and tier 2 demons, and is guarded by a powerful unique archdemon down at the very bottom. While that's bad enough, what really qualifies Hell for ThatOneLevel status is ''the Mystical Force'', a vaguely explained... well, mystical force that regularly (every twenty turns or so) does some random bad thing to you. If you're lucky it'll only decide to confuse you (probably while you're standing right next to lava and/or in combat). If you're unlucky it'll decide to blast you with massive unresistable damage, stat drain you to death, or summon a tier 1 demon right next to you while you're trying to rest.
** Followers of the god of order, Zin, will be granted (not infallible) protection against Hell's mystical force which makes them among the most suited to taking on this level, but even they have to be very careful of the demons and other monsters here.

** Sigmund is a human [[strike:Wizard]] [[strike:MagicKnight]] [[strike:Nutcase]] {{Badass}} notorious for killing off a lot of early level characters; he wields a scythe, which at this point in the game is a powerful weapon, can become invisible, casts confuse on the player and throws fire. Most players will want to avoid or escape him if they meet him, unless they have an edge, like a wand or potion.

** Mara is another late-game threat, appearing around the same time as Mennas. Not only does he have a dangerous spell list and the tendency to spawn with a decent weapon, he can conjure up illusions of himself, which are just as nasty, blink and teleport around, [[MirrorBoss and create an illusion of the player]], which is just as dangerous as the player is. Are you powerful enough to casually sling Fire Storms around? Your illusory self will be too!

** Totally true of Crawl's bats. They barely even hurt you, but hit multiple times in a turn, and have so much evasion they're hard to kill (most annoying is that they're so fast they can move toward you, hit you, and move out of reach in one turn, meaning that you can't melee them unless you make some odd moves). Potentially deadly in the early game, mildly irritating afterwards.
** Ugly things and slime creatures later on in the Dungeon. They always appear in packs, are faster than most [=PCs=], and absorb a good chunk of damage before dying or splitting. Also see the DemonicSpiders entry above for a description of the Invisible Horror.
*** And all of the above creatures run away when damaged. Slime creatures have incredibly annoying habit of fleeing and coming back within seconds, having completely regenerated in the process.
** Crimson Imps (or just "Imps" in earlier versions) have a trio of nasty abilities: they're hard to hit, they blink around a lot and ''they regenerate lightning-fast''. Luckily, they're not usually dangerous on their own - but if they find a strong weapon, they can become DemonicSpiders for low-level characters, particularly mages.

** Sigmund is a human [[strike:wizard]] [[strike:MagicKnight]] [[strike:nutcase]] {{badass}} notorious for killing off a lot of early level characters; he wields a scythe, which at this point in the game is a powerful weapon (although it’ll suck when you try to use it), and can become invisible, cast confuse on the player and throw fire. Most players will avoid or escape him if they meet him, unless they have an edge, like a wand or potion.
** Grinder is another early game ThatOneBoss. He's a shadow imp who can paralyse the player and cast a nasty pain attack. Grinder typically appears just a bit later than Sigmund, and the two are joked to have a rivalry going on to see which can claim more lives of new characters.
** Nessos the centaur. Even normal centaurs are fairly bad because of their speed and ranged attack, but Nessos' attack is even more powerful and he has the ability to blink away from the player to make killing him in melee harder.

** Maurice. A thief that'll haste himself, turn invisible, then sneak up to you and steal your stuff. After blinking away he'll turn your wand of draining against you whilst quaff your half-dozen potions of curing.
** Mara is another late-game threat, around when Mennas shows up. Not only can he cast dangerous spells and tends to wield a nasty weapon, he can conjure up illusions of himself, which are just as nasty, blink and teleport around, and create an illusion of the player, which is just as dangerous as the player is. Are you powerful enough to casually sling Fire Storms around? Your illusion will be too!

** Many EnemySummoner foes are considered demonic bats as well, including deep elf summoners and orc sorcerers, both of which rarely do battle without first calling in a dozen or so various demons. Vampires fit in this category as well (until version 0.12 when this ability will be removed) thanks to their tendency to flood the room with rats and bats the second they spot you.

* DemonicSpiders: many, but mostly situational.
** Centaurs. They're fast and they have a powerful ranged attack.
** Unseen horrors. They move like bats, hit hard, ''and they're invisible''. Their invisibility is particularly nasty for lightly armored characters, who cannot take advantage of their mobility to dodge the monster's attack.
** Spiny frogs are the bane of many casters, particularly because of their poison resistance that makes them immune to mephitic cloud.
** Any sort of higher demon, but especially any demons marked with '1'. Second-rank demons (marked with '2') will just give you really bad mutations, summon hordes of minions and set you on fire. First rank demons are the Fiends and the Executioner. The Executioner will make itself ridiculously fast and proceed to hit you like a freight train. Fiends have a (nearly) unresistable spell that instantly cuts your current HP in half. While throwing fire bolts and poison arrows, and summoning hordes of minions, who then summon hordes of their own minions.

** Maurice. A thief that'll haste himself, turn invisible, then sneak up to you and steal your stuff. After blinking away he'll turn your wand of draining against you whilst quaff your half-dozen potions of curing.

* DemonicSpiders:

* GoddamnedBats: Totally true of Crawl's bats. They barely even hurt you, but hit multiple times in a turn, and have so much evasion they're hard to kill (most annoying is that they're so fast they can move toward you, hit you, and move out of reach in one turn, meaning that you can't melee them unless you make some odd moves). Potentially deadly in the early game, mildly irritating afterwards.

** Maurice. He'll haste himself, turn invisible, then sneak up to you and steal your stuff. After blinking away he'll turn your wand of draining against you whilst quaff your half-dozen potions of curing.

** Mennas the ReligiousBruiser is a late-game ThatOneBoss, particularly against spellcasters. The worst part about him is his ability to silence his surroundings, making spellcasting impossible. He's also [[LightningBruiser very fast and very strong in melee]].

** Unseen horrors. They move like bats, hit hard, ''and they're invisible''. Which can be pretty important, because they'll flee when they're hurt, heal off their wounds and come back to pester you later.

** Enemy centaurs can be this in the early game.

** Also neqoxecs. They're low-level demons that you can easily kill in combat when they first appear, but they like to zap you with spells that make you mutate. On rare occasions, you might get something good, like growing scales that increase your AC, but usually they do something hideously awful to you like making you uncontrollably teleport to random places, making you deformed so your armor doesn't fit and only provides half as much protection, or making your body deteriorate, which decreases each of your stats at random intervals. These are very difficult to get rid of, and soon the player, in real life, will acquire the mutation that makes him [[TourettesShitcockSyndrome uncontrollably scream every few minutes]].
** More true to the spirit of the trope, ugly things and slime creatures later on in the Dungeon. They always appear in packs, are faster than most [=PCs=], and absorb a good chunk of damage before dying or splitting. Also see the DemonicSpiders entry above for a description of the Invisible Horror.

* Unseen horrors. They move like bats, hit hard, ''and they're invisible''. Which can be pretty important, because they'll flee when they're hurt, heal off their wounds and come back to pester you later.

* DemonicSpiders: Unseen horrors. They move like bats, hit hard, ''and they're invisible''. Which can be pretty important, because they'll flee when they're hurt, heal off their wounds and come back to pester you later.

* ThatOneBoss: Sigmund is a human [[strike:wizard]] [[strike:MagicKnight]] [[strike:nutcase]] {{badass}} notorious for killing off a lot of early level characters; he wields a scythe, which at this point in the game is a powerful weapon (although it’ll suck when you try to use it), and can become invisible, cast confuse on the player and throw fire. Most players will avoid or escape him if they meet him, unless they have an edge, like a wand or potion.
** However, Sigmund goes down like a chump if you get the drop on him with Mephitic Cloud or Evaporate. A Transmuter or Stalker can kill him fairly easily around character level 2.

* GameBreaker: The Storm spells, especially [[PlayingWithFire Fire Storm]]. Both spells deal damage comparable with [[AwesomeButImpractical Crystal Spear]] to ''multiple enemies'', both are partially irresistible, and both leave damaging clouds behind. Fire Storm [[BeyondTheImpossible takes it further]] by having Smite-targeting (if you can see something, you can hit it, regardless of what's in the way) and summons fire vortices to distract survivors. If you worship Vehumet and wield a staff of energy/cast Necromutation, then you can basically cast it ''for free''.

* ThatOneBoss: Sigmund is a human [[strike:wizard]] [[strike:MagicKnight]] [[strike:nutcase]] {{badass}} notorious for killing off a lot of early level characters; he wields a scythe, which at this point in the game is a powerful weapon (although it’ll suck when you try to use it), and can become invisible, cast confuse on the player and throw fire. Most players will avoid or escape him if they meet him, unless they have an edge, like a wand or potion.

* GeniusBonus: There is a reference to TheMetamorphosis in the description for the giant cockroach monster.