TomeNET

(7.7a) Polymorph rings ('Ring of Polymorphing of <form>'):                      
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There are two types of polymorph rings, those which already provide a monster
form and those which can still be forged by a mimic. Latter ones are named
'Rings of Polymorphing of Player', while the first ones are named after the
monster form.

A player can use a ring that carries a monster form, by wearing it and
activating it, which will consume the ring and store the form in the player's
memory temporarily.
Only one ring form at a time can be stored. If the player activates another
monster ring, the first form wil be forgotten and replaced with the new one.

To successfully activate a monster form ring, the following three conditions
must be met:

- The user needs a mimicry skill of at least 1/2 the level of the monster, and
must have killed enough monsters to have learned the form normally, in order to
activate the ring, or activation will fail with a message saying
"The ring flashes briefly, but nothing happens."

- Also the character must be eligible to use that form in general, for example
shamans cannot use certain forms. If the character is not eligible, activation
will fail with a message "The ring starts to glow brightly, then fades again".

- Last but not least, rings cannot be used to store level 0 forms such as Bree
townsfolk, in which case activation will fail with a message saying
"The ring starts to glow brightly, then fades again."

On successful activation the ring will disintegrate and the player will
polymorph into the according form for the number of turns the ring specified.
The turns are depending on floor speed, which means they will run out faster on
shallow levels and slower on deeper levels relative to real time, but in fact
always at same speed in character time! (See (4.14) for more information about
the in-game time system.)
As a rule of thumb, a dungeon turn lasts about 1 second on average (noticably
less in town or very shallow levels).
However, the remaining polymorph duration will stop decreasing while you are
in a town and surrounding area, so you don't have to hurry while shopping.
If a character activates a poly ring and then manually polymorphs into another
form, the remaining form duration is saved so he can turn back into the ring's
form later. Only one ring form can be saved at a time. Note that there is an
activation tax of 10 turns everytime the player polymorphs into the stored
form (except for the initial polymorphing from activating the ring).

NOTE: UN_POWER attacks can drain the remaining time a temporary form lasts!

At around 100 turns (or less if there isn't more time left) before a form runs
out the player will receive a warning message about this, and his appearance
will start to flicker between the temporary form and his normal form, to
indicate visually that it won't last very much longer.

Players can also create monster rings from "Polymorphing of Player" rings, by
mimicking the according form, then wearing the ring and activating it.
The ring will turn into a ring of polymorphing of the current monster form.
However, to create such a ring it is required that the player has already
learnt that form. All of his knowledge will be absorbed into the ring, so
the player will completely forget the form and have to re-learn it if he
wants to use it again!

The level of the ring will change depending on the form. Here are some levels:
form level              ring level
----------------------------------
      0 (townspeople)        5
      1                      5
     15                     14
     30                     22
     60                     36
     80                     43
    100 (theoretical)       50

Polymorph rings contain a certain amount of energy that cannot be changed,
which determined for how long the player will keep the form until he polymorphs
back to normal.
If a player forges a ring, his 'Magic Device' skill helps to obtain a higher
amount of energy in the ring.