Crawler

"Hello, Crawlers!" Cascadia^[1]

Crawler describes anyone who chose to enter the World Dungeon after surviving the Transformation.^[2] Crawlers are considered voluntary participants in the current season of Dungeon Crawler World, and are the legal property of the host company until they earn citizenship by arriving on the Tenth Floor^[3].

New Crawlers

Eligibility

Syndicate laws forbid pregnant women and children "under the age of maturity" from participating in the crawl. Any pregnant or underage survivors who attempt to enter the First Floor are instead teleported to the Kinder Facility on Earth's surface.^[4]

Crawler Identification

After opening the double doors in the Dungeon Entrance and stepping into the First Floor, any biological creature above a certain weight is automatically assigned two identifiers by the System AI:

See Also: First Floor#Entering the Dungeon (includes System AI notification)

Crawler Interface

All crawlers possess crawler-issue wetware (specifically: Syndicate Crawl Version 47.002.Human), which immediately grants access to a limited Heads-Up Display (HUD) when the crawler enters the Dungeon.^[7][5] The full HUD, as well as a long list of Crawler Menus, must be unlocked by a Game Guide during the Tutorial.

The wetware also programs crawlers with the ability to understand, read, and speak Syndicate Standard, as well as communicate with crawlers who speak a different language. All languages sound like the crawler's native tongue.^[8] (Note: some languages were not supported or translated until the second patch update.^[9])

Read More: Heads-Up Display (HUD) • Category:Crawler Interface

Biology

Upon entering the First Floor, biologically female crawlers receive a notification that their menstrual cycles have stopped and they will not be able to conceive until after the crawl.^[10]

New crawlers are cured of physical injuries and illnesses after entering the First Floor, but are not of age-related impairments such as senility, mobility, or orthopedic issues.^[11] Crawlers who require medication to treat medical or psychological conditions appear to function normally without the medication.^[11][12] Although Carl has not described a crawler as wearing prescription glasses, contacts, or hearing aids, it is unclear whether these problems were cured in the Dungeon or if everyone with poor eyesight or impaired hearing died on the first few floors.

Starting Stats

The average adult human enters the Dungeon with 3-5 levels in each of the five core Player Stats (Charisma, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Strength). A new crawler's health is tied to their Constitution, and their Mana Points are equal to their Intelligence score. Crawlers must have a base Intelligence score of at least two (2) to complete the Tutorial, or else they will be classified as a dungeon familiar.^[1]

Read More: Player Stats (includes full breakdown of starting values)

Starting Skills

New crawlers enter the Dungeon with a laundry list of skills, most of which are level 1-3. A crawler may have 6-8 levels in a skill related to their profession or to something they "trained" for a long time (for example: Carl starts with 6 levels in "Basic Electrical Repair Skill" and 8 levels in Frogger, but only 3 levels in "Breathing", which he has presumably been passively doing his entire life).^[1]

Read More: Skill Mechanics • Category:Skills

Parties

Crawlers who enter the Dungeon together are automatically grouped into a Party, which they may choose to leave. The crawler with the highest combined stats is appointed as the Party Leader. There is no maximum party size until the Sixth Floor, when parties are restricted to thirty members or less and Guilds are introduced.

Read More: Party Mechanics • Guild Mechanics

Loot & Equipment

Most crawlers receive a few achievements when they enter the Dungeon, and have 2-3 low tier Loot Boxes "ready to open" when they start the tutorial.^[13]

Crawlers have a limited number of "Equipment Slots" for equipping magical or buffed items found in the Dungeon.^[14] Only one magical item can be equipped in a slot at a given time. These slots include but are not limited to: Head, Face, Neck, Chest, Arms, Legs, Hands, Fingers, Feet, and Toes.

Read More: Inventory Mechanics • Loot Boxes • Floor 1 Achievements

Early Crawl

Levels & Experience

Levels are an indication of a crawler's relative power. Crawlers have an overall Crawler Level, and gain levels in skills and spells as they train their abilities.

The first time a crawler kills a mob, they receive the You've Killed a Mob! Achievement and unlock the ability to earn Experience Points (EXP).^[13] Experience is calculated according to how much the crawler participates in a battle, including support functions such as healing or tanking damage.^[15] Crawlers in a party share a small amount of experience.^[1] Killing a level 2 Goblin yields ~50 experience points. Killing another crawler yields a generous amount of experience plus, if you are the first member of your party to kill a crawler, a Savage Box containing PVP Coupons.^[16][17]

Every time a crawler gains a Crawler Level, they gain (3) stat points. These stat points can be distributed as the crawler sees fit, but only after the crawler chooses a race and class on the Third Floor, and only if the crawler is inside a safe room.^[1][18] Status effects like Enhanced Growth Buff may affect the number and distribution of stat points a crawler receives, but most crawlers will need to equip magical stat-boosting items to survive the first two floors.^[8]

Magic & Spells

There are multiple schools and types of magic inside the Dungeon. Crawlers may learn spells from tomes, and then spend Mana Points (MP) to cast these spells. Like skills, using a spell regularly can cause it to level up and become more powerful. Beginning on the Third Floor, crawlers who choose a Bard class can also learn spells from Sheet Music.

Read More: Magic & Spells • Category:Spells

Status Effects

Attacks, items, spells, and more may impart various status effects on mobs or on the crawler. Status effects can be broadly categorized as buffs or debuffs.

A crawler can review their active status conditions in the Health Menu, and can see party members' status conditions in the Party Menu. In most cases, temporary status conditions and timers are displayed in tooltips above the heads of afflicted mobs, NPCs, and crawlers, and can be viewed by anyone in the Dungeon.

Read More: Health Mechanics • Player Stats#Daily Buffs Glitch • Category:Status Effects

Syndicate Shows

When a crawler descends to the Second Floor, they may be teleported out of the Dungeon and into a Production Trailer, where they will participate in a Syndicate program. Private production companies pay an advertising stipend to produce their own shows about the crawl, as well as licensing fees to feature certain crawlers.^[19]

Beginning on the Second Floor, crawlers may be removed from the Dungeon 1 to 3 times per floor to guest star on Syndicate shows. Popular crawlers in a Borant Corporation-hosted Dungeon may be automatically entered into the "Crawler Assisted Outreach Program" and assigned to a PR Agent.^[20] This agent is tasked with monitoring the crawler's actions, coordinating show appearances, and hosting focus groups to gather viewer feedback, and has the ability to open and close chats and to sign official documents on the crawler's behalf.^[21][22]

See Also: Dungeon Crawler World • Category:Shows

Ratings

Shortly after the Second Floor introductory announcement, the Dungeon will be televised live to audiences across Syndicate space, and the crawler's Ratings will begin to populate. Crawlers can access their numbers in the Ratings Menu.^[1][23]

Read More: Ratings

Third Floor

When crawlers reach the Third Floor, they return to their original Tutorial Guild Hall, where their Game Guide walks them through the process of selecting a race, then a class, and then distributing their stat points. Once the process is complete, the game guide formally introduces them to the Dungeon's Third Floor.

Crawler Races

The System AI recommends three race options, but crawlers may have hundreds of races to choose from. Each race is accompanied by a brief description, a summary of the benefits it comes with, and a spinning 3D model of what an average member of the race looks like. The various races may or may not correlate to races found across Syndicate space.^[24]

The race options are fairly balanced. The overall stat bonuses and penalties balance to a net gain of approximately (10) points or, if the stats do not balance, the race features a skill bonus, a racial spell, or a benefit such as night vision. Some races are "exclusive," meaning they are only offered to crawlers who meet specific criteria, and include an additional bonus or two.^[24]

Typically, around 80% of crawlers choose to keep their original race.^[18] If a crawler selects a new race, and if it is substantially different from their original race, then they melt into a blob of goo like a caterpillar inside a chrysalis. The Dungeon changes them on a molecular level, permanently altering their race; the process may take minutes or hours.^[25]

See Also: Category:Crawler Races

Crawler Classes

Each class provides various benefits such as new skills and spells, the ability to train a skill or spell beyond Level 15, experience or mana point boosts or penalties, immunity to various status effects, club memberships, etc.^[25] See Class for a full overview of 3rd and 6th floor class selection.

Read More: Class • Category:Classes

Benefits

Crawlers may gain " Benefits" from race/class selection. Benefits are traits, abilities, or privileges that cannot be trained (unlike skills and spells).

See Also: Category:Benefits

Sponsors (Patrons)

Beginning on the Fourth Floor, crawlers may receive Sponsors. On Dungeon Crawler World: Earth, crawlers are limited to three sponsors, and sponsorship is purchased in bidding wars on the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth floors.^[26]

Read More: Sponsor Mechanics • Category:Syndicate Organizations

References