Minion Army Spell

This article contains unmarked spoilers for Book 6.

System Message. Posting Book 8 spoilers will result in "acceleration" per our rules.


“Goddamnit, Donut,” I said. “Don’t cast it unless I tell you to. You’ll get frozen in place for five minutes. If we’re in a situation where a two percent chance to turn someone on our side is our only hope, we’ll be running, not waiting five minutes.”[1]

Minion Army is an expensive war spell that causes hostile enemies to fight for you rather than against you.[2][3] Although it is a powerful mass-charm spell suited for battlefield sabotage, it is almost impossible to train beyond level one due to its casting time and the high risk of failure.[4][3]

Description

The caster must have line of sight on their targets before they can begin casting.[5] After spending (50) mana points, the caster is Rooted in Place for the full casting period (5 minutes at level one, 4 minutes at higher levels) and is surrounded by a shimmering golden glow that intensifies as the timer counts down.[4][5] The glow is visible even if the caster is invisible.[5]

The spell effects a 30 meter diameter circle centered around the caster, but the range scales up with the caster's Charisma. Once cast, all intelligent mobs in range have a 2% chance to turn on their allies and temporarily fight on the caster's side.[4][3] The percentage increases with spell level.[5]

At level one, the spell has a 5 hour cooldown.[4]

Story

Book 1

Donut received a tome of Minion Army in a Beguiler Box on the First Floor after charming the Goblins Rory and Lorelai, but was unable to learn the spell due to its high cost.[2]

Book 3

On the Fourth Floor, Donut takes advantage of the daily buff glitch to read the tome and learn the spell.[4]

Book 6

SPOILERS FOR BOOK 6
Donut casts the spell for the first time during the third phase of the Eighth Floor, with boosts from both Imani and Samantha raising the percentage to 5%. Although Elle McGibbons wipes out most of the opposing forces with Graupel while Donut is casting, Donut manages to convert a bunch of demon birds.[5]

Trivia

  • The first time the spell is cast on page, the mechanics are either ret-conned or Carl showcases his old "I don't do math" mindset. While previous books establish that each mob has a % chance to turn on its allies, Carl states that this % of mobs will be affected by the spell.[4][5]

References

  1. ↑ Dinniman, Matt. The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook (Chapter 16) (p. 240). Dandy House. Kindle Edition.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Dinniman, Matt. Dungeon Crawler Carl (Chapter 19)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Dinniman, Matt. The Eye of the Bedlam Bride (Chapter 52)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Dinniman, Matt. The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook (Chapter 16)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Dinniman, Matt. The Eye of the Bedlam Bride (Chapter 65)