Growing up
Growing up is the process in which an NPC (non player character) such as a tame kitten turns into a larger version of itself (e.g a housecat). Monsters grow from killing monsters and gaining levels, from the effects of potions of gain level, or from wraith corpses.
Monsters will grow up as follows:[1]
- Baby dragons grow into dragons of the same type.
- Kittens grow into housecats and then into large cats.
- Little dogs grow into dogs and then into large dogs.
- Wolf cubs and winter wolf cubs grow into wolves and winter wolves.
- Naga hatchlings grow into nagas.
- Hellhound pups grow into hellhounds.
- Liches grow to demiliches, master liches, and then into arch-liches.
- Gargoyles grow into winged gargoyles (Although some are born with wings, and hence hatch from winged gargoyle eggs).
- Chickatrices grow into Cockatrices.
- There are many others listed in the source code linked below.
Contents
Natural growth
If a monster kills another monster, its maximum and current hp will both increase.[2] If its maximum hp are increased above the threshold for its current level, it will gain a level. There is a limit to maxhp and levels a monster can gain in this way.
The monster will increase maxhp by d(victim level + 1), but no more than enough to bring it to the minimum for the next level. Current hp will increase by d(increase in maxhp) - 1.
The hp threshold for most monsters is 8 * current level (4 for level 0). Exceptions are golems and elementals on their home plane.
The maximum level attainable via this method is 3/2 of the minimum level for the current monster type (or the next type if there is a more "grown up" form), but no less than 5 and normally no greater than 49. Player monsters can reach level 30, and monsters which have a minimum level greater than 49 (named demons) have a maximum level of 50. If an increase in maxhp would increase the monster's level above this maximum, its maxhp are reset to the threshold for its current level.
Examples
- a dog (currently level 4, maxhp 31) kills a kobold shaman (level 2). Its maxhp can increase by 1-3. If it gains 2-3 maxhp, it will become level 5, with maxhp of 33.
- a large dog (currently level 9, maxhp 70) kills a dwarf king (level 6) and would gain 4 maxhp. Its maxhp do not increase beyond 72.
A user has suggested improving this page or section as follows:
"It would be nice to have a table on a separate page of each monster and its "natural" maximum level and hp"
Magical growth
A monster drinking a potion of gain level or eating a wraith corpse will gain a level and increase its current and maximum hp by d8.
Monsters may exceed their natural level limit in this way, although they may not exceed a hard limit of 49 (50 for named demons).
They may subsequently increase their maxhp to the maximum for their new level by killing monsters.
Changing form
If a monster gains a level such that its current level equals or exceeds the minimum level of its next available form, it will "grow up" into that form.
- e.g. a little dog which reaches level 4 will become a dog.
Growing up into a genocided form
Growing up does not allow a monster to take a genocided form. If the new form is genocided, the monster dies and does not leave a corpse. Extinct forms are nonetheless allowed.[3]
References
This page may need to be updated for the current version of NetHack.
It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.4.3. Information on this page may be out of date.
Editors: After reviewing this page and making necessary edits, please change the {{nethack-343}} tag to the current version's tag or {{noversion}} as appropriate.
