View source for Lava Orc

{{obsolete}}
{{flavour|These strange humanoids are made of living stone, with a unique heat-based metabolism. Ordinarily slow and hardy, when anything puts some stress on them, they literally fire up, turning into fast-moving lava. Outwardly, their shape mostly resembles that of Orcs, thus the name.

They are unique in their ability to swim in lava: even the Djinn, while immune to fire, can't swim through a treacle of molten rock. In order to be able to use regular equipment, Lava Orcs have invented special fire-proof backpacks; vulnerable items like scrolls or books are not accessible when their owner is too hot.

Many things can fire up their metabolism: facing multiple and/or dangerous enemies, being badly hurt, suffering fire damage, berserking, and obviously being submerged in lava. As their heat grows, Lava Orcs gain normal speed, become more accustomed to fire, have their stony skin soften, gain extra power when casting fire magic, become vulnerable to cold, speed up even more, and finally cause fire damage to all creatures in their presence.

Lava Orcs make good melee fighters, preferring axes. They're pretty bad spellcasters, except for transmutations, fire and earth magic.}}

==Innate Abilities==
*[[Conservation|Conserve scrolls]]: The chance of losing your scrolls to fire attacks is reduced by 90%.
*[[Saprovore 1]]: Lava Orcs can tolerate rotten meat if they were [[hungry]] or worse.
*Lava Orcs can not memorize [[Ozocubu's Armour]].
*Lava Orcs gain a bonus when using orcish weapons and armour. For Lava Orcs, orcish armour impedes spellcasting less than other armours and improves their effective Armour skill. They deal slightly more damage with orcish weapons.
*Lava Orcs can worship [[Beogh]], but their '''Heat Aura''' will be suppressed.
*Lava Orcs can stand in [[lava]] as if it was [[shallow water]].

===Temperature===
Temperature could be raised by [[tension]], by getting hurt, by standing in [[lava]], or by [[berserk]]ing. They could cool off by standing in [[shallow water]].

The following innate abilities depend on your character's temperature:
*Up to 4:
**'''Fire resistance 1''': rF+
**'''Stoneskin''': AC bonus of 2+0.2×XL

*5 - 8:
**'''Fire resistance 1''': rF+
**'''Stoneskin''': AC bonus of 2+0.2×XL

*9 - 10:
**'''Fire resistance 2''': rF++
**'''Lava boost''': [[Fire Magic]] and [[Earth Magic]] spells are enhanced, [[Ice Magic]] spells suffer a penalty

*11 - 12:
**'''Fire resistance 3''': rF+++
**'''Cold vulnerability 1''': rC-
**'''Fire boost''': Fire Magic enhanced, Ice Magic penalized

*13 - 14:
**'''Fire resistance 3''': rF+++
**'''Cold vulnerability 1''': rC-
**'''Fire boost''': Fire Magic enhanced, Ice Magic penalized
**'''Passive heat''': Any adjacent monster that attacks you in melee will suffer 0-4 points of [[fire]] damage (Ignores [[AC]] and [[EV]])

*15+:
**'''Fire resistance 3''': rF+++
**'''Cold vulnerability 1''': rC-
**'''Fire boost''': Fire Magic enhanced, Ice Magic penalized
**'''Passive heat''': Any adjacent monster that attacks you in melee will suffer 0-4 points of [[fire]] damage (Ignores AC and EV)
**'''Heat aura''': You are surrounded by a fiery aura that burns any creature, friendly or not (0-10 fire damage, time-scaled)
**'''No scrolls''': You can't read [[scroll]]s (but books are allowed)

==Preferred Backgrounds==
Lava Orcs are recommended for the following backgrounds: 
*'''Warriors:''' [[Fighter]], [[Gladiator]]
*'''Zealots:''' [[Berserker]], [[Abyssal Knight]], [[Death Knight (background)|Death Knight]], [[Healer]]
*'''Mages:''' [[Necromancer]], [[Fire Elementalist]]

==Level Bonuses==
*+1 [[strength]] every 5th level.
*10% more [[HP]] than average.
*Average [[MP]].
*+3 [[magic resistance]] per level.

==Starting Skills and Equipment==
Lava Orcs receive the skills and equipment listed for their background, with these exceptions:
*[[Bread ration]]s are replaced by [[meat ration]]s.
*All weapons and armour are orcish quality, where such variants exist.

==Difficulty of Play==
Lava Orc is a relatively easy species to play. Like [[Hill Orc]]s, Lava Orcs have high HP and above-average aptitudes, especially in melee combat. In addition, Lava Orcs have natural AC from Stoneskin and rF+ (which can easily get to rF+++ where it counts).

The main difference between Lava Orcs and most species is their temperature mechanic. This prevents you from reading some of the best emergency items ([[scroll of teleport]] / [[scroll of blinking]]) in dangerous situations. However, you'll also deal extra fire damage to enemies, somewhat making up for that.

== Skill aptitudes ==
The higher the value, the better the aptitude.

{| class="wikitable" border="1"
![[Skill]]!![[Aptitude]]!![[Skill]]!![[Aptitude]]!![[Skill]]!![[Aptitude]]
|- 
|colspan=2 align="center"|'''''Attack'''''||colspan=2 align="center"|'''''Miscellaneous'''''||colspan=2 align="center"|'''''Magic'''''
|-
|[[Fighting]]||align="right"|2||[[Armour]]||align="right"|1||[[Spellcasting]]||align="right"|-3
|-
|[[Weapon|Short Blades]]||align="right"|0||[[Dodging]]||align="right"|-2||[[Conjurations]]||align="right"|0
|-
|[[Weapon|Long Blades]]||align="right"|1||[[Stealth]]||align="right"|-1||[[Hexes]]||align="right"|0
|-
|[[Weapon|Axes]]||align="right" |2||[[Shields]]||align="right"|1||[[Charms]]||align="right"|-1
|-
|[[Weapon|Maces &amp; Flails]]||align="right"|1||||||[[Summonings]]||align="right"|0
|-
|[[Weapon|Polearms]]||align="right"|1||||||[[Necromancy]]||align="right"|0
|-
|[[Magical staff|Staves]]||align="right"|-1||||||[[Translocations]]||align="right"|-2
|-
|[[Unarmed Combat]]||align="right"|1||||||[[Transmutation]]||align="right"|3
|-
|||||[[Fire Magic]]||align="right"|2||||
|-
|[[Throwing]]||align="right"|-1||[[Ice Magic]]||align="right"|-4||[[Invocations]]||align="right"|3
|-
|[[Weapon|Slings]]||align="right"|-2||[[Air Magic]]||align="right"|-3||[[Evocations]]||align="right"|1
|-
|[[Weapon|Bows]]||align="right"|-2||[[Earth Magic]]||align="right"|1||||
|-
|[[Weapon|Crossbows]]||align="right"|-2||[[Poison Magic]]||align="right"|-1||[[Experience]]||align="right"|-1
|}

==Strategy==
A fired-up Lava Orc's fiery aura can make several types of enemies much easier to deal with (powerful [[derived undead|undead]], [[player ghost]]s, etc.), especially in the early game, when 0-10 damage is much more significant. The downside is that you have to wait while you warm up. Some tips include:
*Back up from (or even better, kite) powerful enemies while you're waiting for your temperature to rise.
*You can instantly superheat yourself by taking a dip in [[lava]] (though doing so takes about a turn and a half, giving fast enemies a free shot or two). You can also flee through the lava if you have trouble.
**Walking through [[shallow water]] will cool you off (and generate [[steam]] [[cloud]]s).
*Going [[berserk]] also instantaneously maxes out your heat.
*Strangely enough, [[fire]] and [[cold]] damage have no impact on your internal temperature. Don't assume that being covered in [[sticky flame]] will get you fired up faster!

The ability to deal passive damage in melee combined with a Lava Orc's natural aptitude for [[axes]] makes them well-suited for a riskier combat style. While many characters will retreat into corridors to avoid getting swarmed, an axe-wielding Lava Orc can fling himself into a pack of enemies and cleave/burn his way to victory. Just be aware that getting surrounded by dangerous enemies can still be quite fatal for the careless.

One disadvantage of your fiery metabolism is your relative inability to prevent yourself from heating up when facing powerful foes. This can be a disadvantage when you are facing something with powerful [[cold]] attacks (though many of those foes will have equal trouble with your fiery nature) or if you really need your natural AC boost. If you do need to cool off quickly, try walking through [[shallow water]], though this depends on having water nearby. Another downside is that your metabolism won't heat up for an enemy you can't sense, meaning you'll have just as much trouble dealing with invisible [[orc wizard]]s, [[unseen horror]]s, and [[Sigmund]] as anyone else.

When facing lava orc [[player ghost]]s, be aware that they do not have a temperature system, and that their resistances were permanently determined by what they had in life when they died. As such, don't worry about them suddenly blasting fire at everything adjacent to them, speeding up, or gaining more fire resistance over the course of the fight.

==History==
Lava Orcs were considered for inclusion in [[0.13]], [[0.14]], and [[0.15]], but were ultimately removed before being included in any stable version.  Prior to 0.13, they had existed in Erocrawl, an experimental version of Crawl, for a long time (since around the [[0.9]]-era). This was the same branch of Crawl that gave rise to [[octopode]]s.

For a good portion of their development period, lava orcs had movement speed effects based on their temperature: although sluggish at low temperatures, the hotter they became, the faster they could move. This was removed while the species was still only available in trunk.

[[Category:Obsolete species]]