Disciple of D'Sparil

A Disciple of D'Sparil in Heretic E2M9: The Glacier

The Disciples of D'Sparil are common enemies in Heretic, dark wizards wearing tattered, hooded black robes with red and gold accents, and black, seemingly wraith-like bodies. Once human adherents of the Order of the Trident, they lost their humanity by following the dark ways of the Serpent Riders. They attack using a powerful set of magic missiles and can phase in and out of the spirit world as part of this barrage. When killed, disciples explode from within into a quickly dispersing network of purple energy, leaving behind only a small pile of their ruined robes.

The disciple is officially described as such:

"The pupils of D'Sparil's dark magic, these wizards have mastered flight and blink out of the shadow world long enough to cast a crushing wave of magic missiles toward their enemy."

― Heretic instruction manual 

Tactical analysis

The disciple attacks by firing a spread of three magic missiles, making its attacks harder to dodge than most other foes. The magic missiles are fast and cause heavy damage, and are more difficult than usual to avoid via strafing due to their multiple angles. However, the disciple has to remain stationary for a while to prepare an attack, giving the player plenty of advance warning and a chance to counterattack or evade. The Disciple flickers in and out of ghost state while preparing his attack; hence, certain attacks from the player may go straight through it during this time.

The ability to fly grants the disciple a high level of mobility.

When killed, they sometimes drop a Claw Orb, and may also drop a Tome of Power on rare occasions.

Data

Attributes ID # 15 (decimal), F (hex) Hit points 180 Speed 12 map units per frame (120 map units per second) Width 32 Height 68 Reaction time 8 Pain chance 64 (23.05%) Mass 100 Bits 4211206 4096 Bits list 1: Obstacle 2: Shootable 9: Nogravity 14: Floating 22: Affects Kill % 12: Pass Mobj

Sprites & sounds Sprite name WZRD Alert sound WIZSIT Action sound WIZACT Pain sound WIZPAI Attack sound WIZATK Death sound WIZDTH

Magic missile ranged attack Type Projectile Speed 18 map units per tic (630 map units per second) Damage 3-24 (per missile) Width 20 Height 6 Sprite name FX11

Fireballs needed to kill1	Mean	Standard deviation	Min	Max
Player (100% health, no armor)	?	?	?	?
Player (100% health, Silver Shield)	?	?	?	?
Player (200% health, Enchanted Shield)	?	?	?	?
Player Chicken	?	?	?	?
Bad Guy Chicken	?	?	?	?
Gargoyle	?	?	?	?
Fire Gargoyle	?	?	?	?
Golem (normal and ghost)	?	?	?	?
Nitrogolem (normal and ghost)	?	?	?	?
Undead Warrior (normal and ghost)	?	?	?	?
Disciple of D'Sparil2
Sabreclaw	?	?	?	?
Weredragon	?	?	?	?
Ophidian	?	?	?
Iron Lich	?	?	?	?
Maulotaur	?	?	?	?
Green Chaos Serpent	?	?	?	?
D'Sparil	?	?	?	?

1. These tables assume that all calls to P_Random for damage, pain chance, impact animations, backfire checks, and smoke trails are consecutive. In real play, this is never the case: counterattacks and AI pathfinding must be handled, and of course the map may contain additional moving monsters and other randomized phenomena (such as flickering lights). Any resulting errors are probably toward the single-shot average, as they introduce noise into the correlation between the indices of "consecutive" calls.
2. Hardcoded exception to infighting negates damage (excepting indirect damage caused by exploding puff pods).

Appearance statistics

In the IWADs the disciple is first encountered on these maps per skill level:

Single-player
Game / Episode	1-2	3	4-5
City of the Damned	E1M4: The Guard Tower	E1M4: The Guard Tower	E1M4: The Guard Tower
Hell's Maw	E2M2: The Lava Pits	E2M2: The Lava Pits	E2M2: The Lava Pits
The Dome of D'Sparil	E3M1: The Storehouse	E3M1: The Storehouse	E3M1: The Storehouse
The Ossuary	E4M1: Catafalque	E4M1: Catafalque	E4M1: Catafalque
The Stagnant Demesne	E5M1: Ochre Cliffs	E5M1: Ochre Cliffs	E5M1: Ochre Cliffs
Fate's Path	E6M1: Raven's Lair	E6M1: Raven's Lair	E6M1: Raven's Lair

Multiplayer
Game / Episode	1-2	3	4-5
City of the Damned	E1M4: The Guard Tower	E1M4: The Guard Tower	E1M4: The Guard Tower
Hell's Maw	E2M2: The Lava Pits	E2M2: The Lava Pits	E2M2: The Lava Pits
The Dome of D'Sparil	E3M1: The Storehouse	E3M1: The Storehouse	E3M1: The Storehouse
The Ossuary	E4M1: Catafalque	E4M1: Catafalque	E4M1: Catafalque
The Stagnant Demesne	E5M1: Ochre Cliffs	E5M1: Ochre Cliffs	E5M1: Ochre Cliffs
Fate's Path	E6M1: Raven's Lair	E6M1: Raven's Lair	E6M1: Raven's Lair

The IWADs contain the following numbers of disciples per skill level:

Single-player
Game / Episode	1-2	3	4-5
City of the Damned	28	35	41
Hell's Maw	43	57	74
The Dome of D'Sparil	44	68	88
Heretic (registered)	115	160	203
The Ossuary	101	131	147
The Stagnant Demesne	88	116	126
Fate's Path	53	75	86
Shadow of the Serpent Riders	357	482	562

Multiplayer
Game / Episode	1-2	3	4-5
City of the Damned	28	35	41
Hell's Maw	43	57	74
The Dome of D'Sparil	44	68	88
Heretic (registered)	115	160	203
The Ossuary	101	131	147
The Stagnant Demesne	88	116	126
Fate's Path	53	75	86
Shadow of the Serpent Riders	357	482	562

Trivia

• A screenshot on the back of the Heretic mail order box shows a disciple with blue robes instead of black, seeming to reveal a change at some point in the game's development.
• The whispered incantations that the Disciples of D'Sparil say are actual phrases played backwards:
  • WIZSIT - "Destroy the Heretic"
  • WIZACT - "Succumb to us, Heretic"