Draft:Scroll of alertness

Omega 0.90.4

Scroll of alertness?TypeScrollBase value (Au)50Item level1Weight5Unidentified appearanceRandom inscriptionCursed nameScroll of drowsiness

A scroll of alertness improves searching and helps the player react to certain surprise attacks. It supplies the same alertness effect as a potion of alertness, through a slower and more restricted reading action.

Generation

This item-level-1 scroll can appear in random loot, pawn-shop stock, or acquirement.

Description

A noncursed reading adds 4 + 5B alertness units, where B is blessing strength. These units normally decrease at the ten-minute status update; see duration and repeated use. An uncursed copy adds four, while a +1-blessed copy adds nine. Enchantment does not affect the duration.

Alertness bypasses the ordinary one-in-three failure gate when searching a square. It also prevents the lost action caused by the specific invisible-surprise attack routine. It does not reveal every creature everywhere or confer general immunity to fear and sleep.

Despite the name scroll of drowsiness, a cursed reading does nothing: the item effect does not call the negative sleep branch. Noncursed reading records the scroll type; cursed reading does not. Either consumes the scroll.

Strategy

Use it before searching for hidden doors or traps, or before confronting an opponent that relies on surprise. Blessing extends the preparation window, while repeated noncursed use adds duration rather than making the search bonus stronger.

The potion offers the same effect with a ten-tick drinking action instead of a twenty-tick reading action, and can be drunk while afraid or blind. The scroll has the advantage of lower weight. A known cursed copy has no sleep effect to exploit in this version; restoring it to noncursed is necessary to gain alertness.