Gods

Gods work similarly to other roguelike games, each giving themed bonuses and penalties. While some penalties are more trivial to avoid or withstand than others, every god has the ability to substantially improve a dungeon run given proper planning. When you play with gods, however, you play with fire — it is up to the player to wield it against the enemy rather than against herself in the form of harsh and avoidable punishments.

All classes except for Goatperson begin without a religion, and must visit an altar to join a religion (except for Vampire, who cannot join a religion). Each dungeon has up to three altars, each assigned to a randomly-selected god among those unlocked. Stepping on the altar will display a brief flavor text description and the option to begin worship if you have not selected a god yet. It is also possible to change religions mid-run through the (religious) Conversion mechanic (explained below), allowing the player to take boons from multiple gods while avoiding penalties.

Relatively new players can experiment with gods in a punishment-free setting using a Paladin, once unlocked. Intermediate-to-advanced practice with gods can be had by using the challenging Goatperson class, whose mandatory polytheism forces the player away from comfort picks and instead teaches them how to plan actions around religious conversions.

Some lesser divinities can infrequently be encountered in subdungeons. These only differ from other subdungeons thematically, as they do not otherwise function as a god in the same broad mechanical sense as the 9 major deities.

Piety and Altars

Piety is the spiritual equivalent of gold. You start with 0 Piety, and can never have less than 0. You can never have more than 100 Piety saved up, so any gains beyond this are wasted.

The number of altars in a standard dungeon depends on your kingdom. Initially, no altars will spawn. Occasionally, the player will find a subdungeon with a particular challenge; this challenge, when conquered, will convert the player to the god they just discovered (even if they were already worshipping another one) and allow this god's altars to spawn in any dungeon. Altars will spawn based on the amount of gods you've unlocked. If you have 1-3 gods, one altar will spawn. With 4-8 gods, two altars will spawn. If you unlock your ninth god, you will have all three altars spawn.

Each altar has a 3x3 square of sparkles centred on it, coloured-coded according to the deity of the altar. You should learn the colours, as these give advance notice of which deity is present. Each sparkle disappears when stepped on, giving +1 piety (regardless of your current religious status).

If you are currently following a god, you can desecrate the altar of any other god (except for the Pactmaker's altar, which can never be desecrated). Doing so gains 30 piety (-10 for each subsequent desecration) and three indulgences, but you will suffer a punishment from the god whose altar you smashed, and the smashed altar will become unusable. The punishments vary from irrelevant to disastrous depending on the god and your overall strategy.

The principal way to gain piety is by performing actions your current god approves of. If you perform a disapproved action, however, your god will 'fine' you a certain amount of piety. If you have indulgences, he/she will take off one of those in preference to fining you in piety, so it's a good idea to time your desecrations so that the indulgences allow you to avoid heavy fines. If you do not have any indulgences, nor enough piety to pay the fine, you will suffer your god's punishment (the Paladin is exempt from this).

The Pactmaker uses Piety a little differently from the other gods. Whenever you perform the action associated with your Pact, the Pactmaker will try to take away the necessary Piety and give you the associated benefit. If you cannot afford the Piety cost, the Pactmaker won't deduct any piety and won't give you the benefit, but there is no punishment and the Pact remains active.

You must return to your god's altar in order to request boons from them. On some maps, you will need to be careful about getting cut off from the altar.

Initial worship and conversion

You can only follow one god at a time, and at the start, you are not following any god. (Note: The Pactmaker cannot be followed, but you can take one of its Pacts regardless of whether or not you are following a god.)

If you are not currently following any god, you can start following a god at his/her altar. Depending on the god, you will receive an initial worship bonus in the form of piety and sometimes a free glyph.

If you are already following a god, and you are not a Paladin or Goatperson, you can convert to another god with an intact altar (even a god you previously abandoned). You need at least 50 piety in the bank to convert, and you lose half of whatever you have when you convert. Converting does not give any of the initial worship benefits.

Main Gods

The Pactmaker Initial Worship N/A Punishment N/A Preparation Penalty N/A	Likes	Dislikes	Boons
	None	None	Scholar's Pact Whenever you level up: -10 , sets current HP to 150% of your max HP and casts BYSSEPS on you Warrior's Pact Whenever you kill a monster without No Experience: -3 , +1 Max HP Alchemist's Pact Whenever you drink a health or mana potion: -4 , +3 XP Body Pact Whenever a monster without No Experience damages you: -4 , Grant Physical resist +1% and Magic resist +1% Spirit Pact Whenever you convert an item or glyph: -5 , +15 bonus conversion points Consensus Effect: +50 , -50 max

Binlor Ironshield Initial Worship Free PISORF +1 per 10 revealed tiles on the main dungeon level Punishment Lose 50% resistances Preparation Penalty Erodes 30% of the level's walls	Likes	Dislikes	Boons
	Destroy a wall/petrified monster: +5 Cast BYSSEPS: +1	Gain a level: -10 Cast IMAWAL on an empty square: -5	Stone Soup Cost: 35 Effect: Spawns ENDISWAL near the altar Stone Skin Cost: 15 Effect: Destroys 3 nearby wall segments +3% Magic resist 3 ranks of Stone skin Stone Form Cost: 25 Effect: Destroys 10 nearby wall segments Grant Stone form +5% Magic resist Stone Fist Cost: 40 Effect: Destroys 20 nearby wall segments +50% Knockback damage +5% Magic resist Stone Heart Cost: 10 Effect: Destroys 15 nearby wall segments lower all enemy Resistances on current dungeon level by 5% +3% Magic resist

Dracul Initial Worship +2 for each killed non- Undead enemy Punishment -20 Max Health, -1 Life steal Preparation Penalty 25% of enemies are bloodless	Likes	Dislikes	Boons
	Attack with Life steal (once per monster, xp-valuable only): +1 Kill a non Undead monster: +2 Convert HALPMEH: +10 Convert CYDSTEPP: +10 Convert a Health Potion: +5 Drink a blood pool: +1 per stack of Blood Tithe	Kill an Undead monster: -5 Drink a Health Potion: -5 Cast HALPMEH: -5 Cast CYDSTEPP: -5	Blood Curse Cost: Increases level by 1 (no stat increase, no HP/MP fill, cannot be chosen at L10) Effect: +20 Blood Tithe Cost: 10 (+15) Effect: Grants Sanguine 5%, or boosts +5% to Sanguine if you already have it, - 5 Max HP, +1 Base damage Blood Hunger Cost: 20 (+25) Effect: Life steal +1, -20% to maximum resistances, +1 Base damage Blood Shield Cost: 40 Effect: Physical resist +15%, Magic resist +15% Blood Swell Cost: 20 (+10) Effect: Restore all HP, +1 Cursed

The Earthmother Initial Worship +5 , grants IMAWAL glyph Punishment applies 5 layers of Corrosion to your character Preparation Penalty Plant creation rate from boons is doubled	Likes	Dislikes	Boons
	Cast IMAWAL on an enemy: +10 Cast IMAWAL on a plant: +5	Kill a plant: -15 Use Life steal: -5	Plantation Cost: 5 Effect: Grows a plant on each visible bloodstain, and gain 5 for each plant grown in this manner Clearance Cost: 5 (+5) Effect: Removes 10 plants and restores 1 Mana for each removed plant. Greenblood Cost: 5 (+3) Effect: Every monster on this dungeon level is inflicted with 1 point of Corrosion, spawns 3 random plants and removes one layer of Cursed. Entanglement Cost: 5 Effect: Every monster on this dungeon floor is Slowed, spawns 5 random plants Vine Form Cost: 5 (+3) Effect: Grants you +4 to your maximum hit points, 1 point of Damage Reduction, spawns 2 plants

Glowing Guardian Initial Worship +5 per level Punishment Removes all glyphs and items from your inventory Preparation Penalty Greatly reduces per-level piety gain from consecutive level up (3+3n to 0+2n)	Likes	Dislikes	Boons
	Gain a level: 3 (+3) (piety reward increases for each consecutive level-up without converting to another religion) Convert APHEELSIK or BLUDTUPOWA glyphs: +10 Convert a large item, glyph, or potion: +5 Convert a small item (including small glyphs): +2 Suffer Poisoned or Mana burned status: +2 Kill an XP-valuable undead monster: +1 Burnt Offering (kill a monster that has Burning applied): +1	Use a Health Potion or Mana Potion: -10 Inflict Poisoned status on a monster: -10 Use Life steal or Sanguine: -10 Activate BLUDTUPOWA: -20 and activation of glyph fails	Humility Cost: 15 Effect: Lowers current level by 1; has no effect on base attack, maximum hit points, or experience Absolution Cost: 2 (+2) Effect: Removes one monster of your level or lower from the game (exception: Undead, monsters on different dungeon levels, bosses), gain +4 Max HP and a Prayer Bead Cleansing Cost: 10 (+0) Effect: Removes Mana Burned and Poisoned status, as well as 1 layer each of Weakened and Corrosion status, and your next attack is a Consecrated Strike. Also receive a Prayer Bead Protection Cost: 10 (+5) Effect: Restores 35% of your maximum health and mana; has no effect on Mana Burned and Poisoned status; Also receive a Prayer Bead Enlightenment Cost: 100 Effect: Enchants all Prayer Beads in inventory, and gain +1 Max HP, +1% bonus damage, +1 XP and +10 Conversion Points per bead converted. Also removes all layers of Cursed and grants +5 Max MP

Jehora Jeheyu Initial Worship Random based on your level Free WEYTWUT glyph Punishment 50% chance of reducing your health to 1 and mana to 0, and reducing bonus damage, max health and max mana by 33% Preparation Penalty Removes one inventory slot from the player	Likes	Dislikes	Boons
	All of the following effects may randomly grant 2-4 or cause Jehora Jeheyu to randomly punish you (no piety loss) Discover a monster while exploring (plants excluded) Kill an XP-valuable enemy Cast BYSSEPS, WONAFYT, WEYTWUT, GETINDARE, APHEELSIK, CYDSTEPP Dodge an attack Convert an item or glyph	On minor punishment randomly inflicts Poisoned, Mana Burned, Weakening, Corrosion debuffs, or sets your health to 1	Petition Cost: 45 Effect: Jehora Jeheyu stops randomly punishing you Last Chance Cost: all remaining Effect: Grants a chance to fully restore your health and mana; probability improves if you have more piety Boost Health Cost: 20 + 25n , 1 Health Potion Effect: Increases your maximum health by 20 Boost Mana Cost: 20 + 25n , 1 Mana Potion Effect: Increases your maximum mana by 3 Chaos Avatar Cost: 80 Effect: Increases your current level by 1, granting a full heal and mana restore, grants +100 conversion points, removes all Weakening blow and Corrosion from your character, and reduces the physical and Magic resistance of all monsters on the current level by 20%

Mystera Annur Initial Worship +1 for each glyph cast Punishment all monsters on all dungeon floors gain 15% to both physical and Magic resist Preparation Penalty Slows piety gain by 25%	Likes	Dislikes	Boons
	Cast a glyph: +1 per 2 mana spent	Kill a monster which has Magical attack :-5 Get afflicted with Mana burned :- (1 + remaining Mana in)	Magic Cost: 5 (+20) Effect: Gain 1 maximum mana Refreshment Cost: 50 Effect: Every time you convert a glyph, 50% of your maximum mana is restored (25% while not actively worshipping Mystera) Flames Cost: 20 Effect: Your attack bonus decreases by 50%, but the BURNDAYRAZ glyph deals 1 additional damage per level Weakening Cost: 30 (+0) Effect: -10% magic resistance to player and all monsters on the current dungeon floor Mystic Balance Cost: 60 Effect: Mana costs of all spells are increased or decreased towards the value of "5" by 2 points.

Taurog Initial Worship +2 for each killed enemy. Punishment -40% bonus damage and enemies gain 10% Magic resist. -10% bonus damage and enemies gain 10% Magic resist, for converting one of his gear Preparation Penalty All enemies are Cowardly	Likes	Dislikes	Boons
	Kill an enemy: +4 . Kill a Magical attack enemy: +8 . Convert a glyph: +10 .	Use a glyph: -2 per use. Convert Taurog's Equipment: Instant punishment.	Taurog's Blade Cost: 20 , -1 Max Mana Effect: Spawn Skullpicker (+5 Base Damage) near the altar, +5% attack bonus Taurog's Shield Cost: 25 , -1 Max Mana Effect: Spawn Wereward ( Damage Reduction: 5) near the altar, +5% attack bonus Taurog's Helm Cost: 25 , -1 Max Mana Effect: Spawn Gloat ( Magic resist: +15%) near the altar, +5% attack bonus Taurog's Armour Cost: 25 , -1 Max Mana Effect: Spawn Will ( Physical resist: +15%) near the altar, +5% attack bonus Unstoppable Fury Cost: 20 (+10) Prerequisite: Must be equipped with all of Taurog's equipment Effect: Grants Death Protection

Tikki Tooki Initial Worship Free GETINDARE glyph Punishment Lowers Dodge chance by 100% and Poison Strike. All monsters on all dungeon floors gain First strike and Weakening blow Preparation Penalty All damage taken will incur a piety penalty.	Likes	Dislikes	Boons
	Kill an XP-valuable enemy who is lower-level than you: +5 . Dodge an attack from any enemy: +3 Poisoned an enemy: +1 Use the WONAFYT glyph: +1 Use the WEYTWUT glyph: +1	Take more than one hit from a monster: -3 per hit Trigger a death protection: -10	Tribute Cost: 15 gold Effect: Gain 10 Tikki's Edge Cost: 25 (+25) Effect: Grants you Learning, gaining +1 additional experience from all kills, grants 10 Dodging Cost: 25 Effect: Increases your chance to Dodge by 10%, grants 10 Poison Cost: 15 (+10) Effect: Grants you 1 level of Poisonous Reflexes Cost: 35 , 1 Health Potion Effect: Spawn one Reflex Potion & Quicksilver Potion near the altar.

Choose your Deity

Binlor Ironshield: Binlor works as a source of knockback melee damage, temporary physical damage resistance, and permanent magic damage resistance, and is quite easy to farm piety with. He grants a free PISORF on worship, which also makes him a popular "glyph magnet" as a preparation. You can also get ENDISWAL from him for 35 , or can pick one up if it spawns — or you can prep Bear Mace to help farm his piety. Constantly requesting Stone Skin and/or Stone Heart will allow you to rack up a great amount of magic resistance. Binlor is also a good desecration target, as long as you don't care about your resistances, and if you're going to spam Stone Skin, you don't mind his punishment even if you're worshiping him.
Dracul: Dracul is a good selection for most melee classes, due to how much health refills he can bring to the table. He can grant you Life steal, Sanguine, or even a full heal via Blood Swell. Unfortunately, he doesn't really like you using other forms of healing, like HALPMEH or CYDSTEPP — it takes a bit of practice to combine him with folks who like to use those. He doesn't like you using healing potions, either, but he likes you converting those, which paradoxically makes him a fine Deity for Halfling if you want quick piety with him (great for a Halfling Feeling Parched). The other reason he's useful is for if Blood Shield, which stacks extremely well with other forms of damage resistance while not taking up an item slot, and he's a key player in resist stacking strategies. Both glass cannon builds and big health builds can make good use out of overhealing with his lifesteal, too, and Dwarf can get great mileage out of everything he provides.
The Earthmother: A very useful deity whatever your plan is, and a great source of piety. Her free IMAWAL glyph will both give you piety and help you level up faster, and Vine Form will let you get more out of the XP bonus by letting you fight higher level enemies with less effort. Plantation allows you to get 100 extremely easily, and also allow for seemingly endless spam of Clearance, which can be an equivalent to having several Keg of Mana. It can also be used to convert to another deity. Entanglement is multi purpose — bonus experience on every monster, protection from enemy first strike and retaliation, and it's cheap to spam just to put plants on the map. The Earthmother's altar is an easy desecration target, since a single Burn Salve negates her punishment.
Glowing Guardian: A powerful deity for every class except Bloodmage and Assassin, or Trisword/ Alchemist Scroll builds. Worship him as early as possible to get the most piety out of him. Absolution is deceptively powerful, allowing you to gain a ton of max HP, although it costs 1/5 of an item slot and some potential XP. Enlightenment can be used to your advantage, providing a nice bonus to everything, plus a complete curse wipe. Unfortunately, he hates potions, and converting in and out of him isn't a great option. Also, he gives piety for converting things and leveling, and Goblins convert things for leveling, so they make ideal GG worshipers.
Jehora Jeheyu: He rewards almost anything you do, but sometimes he will inflict a random small punishment instead until you get Petition from him. In return for this bit of inconvenience, he provides very cheap stat boosts. Grab Petition to end his punishments as soon as possible, and burn a potion or whatever to get to LV2 and enjoy the great boosts, quality refills, and also the handy WEYTWUT which lets you explore any map easily. Desecrating him is somewhat risky. A desecration can either severely reduce your total health, mana, and damage, or just give you free piety. Desecrate only when desperate, or feel lucky. Also a great god for a Goblin, as they can take all his punishments at LV1 and just convert something to get rid of most of them, and they can get a lot of mileage out of his stat boosts, and you can get great mileage out of Halflings and Gnomes as well.
Mystera Annur: Mystera works well for most BURNDAYRAZ spellcaster builds (even when your character isn't one, because worshiping Mystera turns anyone into one). Magic is a free mana point, and another one each time you can afford it. Refreshment provides roughly 5-6 Mana Potions worth of mana, so saving glyphs for mana replenishment is often crucial for getting the most out of her. Mystic Balance allows for 5 MP fireballs and 8 MP CYDSTEPPs, although it fares poorly with other cheaper glyphs. Flames bump your effective caster level at levels 4 and 8 for dedicated casters and Weakening can fully negate one of the few obstacles to fireball spam if used a bunch. Don't worship her if the dungeon is full of magical monsters or mana burners unless you know what you're doing; in most other cases, she's supremely easy to play and powerful. Also, don't desecrate her unless you know you have a way around her punishment.
The Pactmaker: Works differently than other deities and can be worshipped at the same time as another deity. The Pactmaker offers 5 pacts which decrease your piety, but give you god effects when certain things happen. If you cannot pay the piety because you have no other god, nothing happens. If you have a god, but can't pay the piety, you do not invoke the god's punishment. You can also use Consensus for an instant piety boost or for converting out of another deity. Works well with "piety farms" like The Earthmother and Taurog, as well as the Stone Sigil. Always keep in mind that you can't take the powerful Consensus if you take another pact before, but you can still take another pact if you take Consensus first.
Taurog: Taurog is a good source of piety, and benefits classes that beg for physical damage, especially the Berserker and the Monk. However, the mana penalty can be crippling and his boons will fill your inventory and prevent you from purchasing other items from shops. With Taurog, you can either worship him full-time and abuse Unstoppable Fury or grab a few of his items and convert out of him before the MP penalty cripples you. He rewards converting glyphs, so front-loaded guys like Orc, or the melee-happy Halfling make good Warmonger melee-only builds with him because they can dump all their glyphs to get a lot of his stuff in their inventory early. He's also good for melee types going Miser as he doesn't leave too much room for other items anyway.
Tikki Tooki: Good choice as a later game deity, as he enjoys you slaying lower level monsters, but a big no for tanks. That said, if you can just hop in with a tank and grab Dodging and maybe a hit of Tikki's Edge then get out, he's great — the more hits you can tank, the more potential dodges, you just have to get out of TT worship first. His prep penalty looks harsh, but just promotes optimal play on spellcasters and glass cannon types — and Tikki's Edge stacking is great with spellcasters while each hit of Reflexes gives you two powerful potions almost anyone can find a use for. When playing for a lot of Tikki's Edge benefits, save some low level monsters. Poison isn't particularly powerful outside of very specific builds, but the first shot basically pays for itself. A nice thing about Tikki Tooki is that his boons give you gold, so you can afford buying powerful items or potions and abusing gold-consuming items like the Crystal Ball. Just don't prep him with CYDSTEPP users whatever you do, he doesn't like that. On plant maps, he can give you a lot of piety for dodging plant hits.