Couatl

A couatl
Difficulty	11
Attacks	Bite 2d4 poison, Bite 1d3, Hug 2d4 drowning

A couatl
Difficulty	11
Attacks	Bite 2d4 poison, Bite 1d3, Hug 2d4 drowning
Base level	8
Base experience	180
Speed	10
Base AC	5
Base MR	30
Alignment	7 (lawful)
Frequency (by normal means)	1 (Very rare)
Genocidable	No
Weight	900
Nutritional value	400
Size	Large
Resistances	Poison
Resistances conveyed	None
A couatl: can fly. has no hands. has a serpent body. is poisonous to eat. does not eat. (*) can follow you to other levels. is nasty. is strong. has infravision. can be seen through infravision. does not appear in Gehennom. normally appears in small groups. never leaves a corpse.
Reference	monst.c#line983

A couatl, A, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It has the lowest monster level and difficulty among angelic beings, making them likely to be the first type you encounter.

The coautl is a serpent with a pair of bite attacks, the first being stronger and poisonous, followed by a holding attack that acts as a drowning attack if the coautl is over a moat. It is capable of flight and has poison resistance, and like other angelic beings it ignores Elbereth; it can also be saddled for riding.

Generation

Randomly generated couatls may appear in small groups of 2 to 4, and are peaceful towards lawful player characters; they will never generate randomly in Gehennom, with the exception of Vlad's Tower. A couatl is generated on the Plane of Air at level creation.

Couatls serve as minions for lawful gods, who may send hostile couatls after you if you anger them (e.g. with excessive prayer) or rarely when you convert one of their altars through sacrifice. Hostile couatls can also be created via the summon nasties monster spell used by a lawful spellcasting monster. Couatls cannot be targeted for genocide.

Strategy

Couatl are somewhat slow at 10 speed, but remain something of a danger for mid-game characters: their holding attack and tendency to generate in groups may result in you being surrounded unless you are careful, and encountering them near moats introduces the risk of instadeath by drowning. Though among the weaker of the lawful monsters that can be generated by a summon nasties spell, couatls will not be driven off by Elbereth like other nasties - they are also the only other non-sea monster alongside the python that are capable of drowning you.

As a steed, a couatl is not especially remarkable - among the mounts capable of flight, it is only faster than a dragon, which has better AC alongside a breath attack and is generally much stronger.

History

The couatl is introduced alongside the other angelic beings in NetHack 3.1.0.

From NetHack 3.4.1 to NetHack 3.4.3, including many variants based on these versions, couatls were able to wear amulets, boots, shields, and gloves despite being non-humanoid - this was bug C341-18, and also affected the much stronger ki-rin.

Origin

The word couatl, more commonly spelled as coatl (plural cocoah) comes from the classical and Central Nahuatl languages and means "serpent" or "twin". The name of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl is derived form this word and translates literally to "Precious Serpent" or "Quetzal-feathered Serpent": Quetzalcoatl is said to appear in the form of a feathered, rainbow-winged serpent, and feathered serpent deities occurred in the iconography and worship of many Mesoamerican cultures. The couatl of NetHack comes from Dungeons & Dragons, where it debuts in Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry (1976) for the first edition of the game.

In Dungeons & Dragons, a couatl (which is sometimes pluralized as "couatls" there and in NetHack) is a feathered serpent with a pair of rainbow-colored wings that originated from ancient clans of creator-race reptilians known as saurians (or sarrukh). More than 35,000 years before the present age, these sarrukh clans once controlled a mighty empire; as the empire fell, these clans became nomadic and migrated from plane to plane, slowly embracing their darker natures. Some of their kindred despaired at this, and chose to pray to Jazirian - a deity and fragment of the World Serpent - who aided them by transforming them into the first couatls.

In the present age of the various Dungeons & Dragons settings, couatls are rarely seen and tend to avoid interfering in mortal affairs, but are highly intelligent and powerful creatures, and inhabit warm, jungle-like regions; some of them are considered gods, and they are regarded with awe by the inhabitants of their homelands.

Variants

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, tame couatl can be given as minions to lawful players at experience level 7 or lower via sacrifice or prayer, though minions cannot be saddled or ridden. Couatl make for a decently strong pet in the early game when obtained this way,

The couatl's difficulty is raised to 14, and it requires a +2 weapon or better to be hit, which also gives it an implicit ability to hit as a +2 weapon. The couatl's encyclopedia entry is also expanded.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, couatls deal extra damage to holy-hating creatures (such as demons, undead and vampires) with their physical attacks.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, couatl have sleep resistance and shock resistance, making them somewhat harder to fend off or slow down; minions are dispatched much more often when altars are converted.

Encyclopedia entry

A mythical feathered serpent. The couatl are very rare.

SLASH'EM

A mythical feathered serpent. The couatl are very rare. The couatl are feathered serpents of myth and lore. It is believed that they are distant relatives of dragons, though this remains unproven. So rare as to be considered legendary, the couatl are some of the most beautiful creatures in existence. A couatl has the body of a long serpent and feathered wings the colour of the rainbow. Occasionally sent as messengers from the gods to their erring servants, a couatl will always seek to punish those who deserve it.
[ 2nd ed. Monstrous Compendium, by TSR, Inc. ]