Ogre

O ogre
Difficulty	7
Attacks	Weapon 2d5 physical

O ogre
Difficulty	7
Attacks	Weapon 2d5 physical
Base level	5
Base experience	61
Speed	10
Base AC	5
Base MR	0
Alignment	-3 (chaotic)
Frequency (by normal means)	1 (Very rare)
Genocidable	Yes
Weight	1600
Nutritional value	500
Size	Large
Resistances	None
Resistances conveyed	None
An ogre: has a head, a couple of arms, and a torso. is carnivorous. is strong. likes gold. likes gems. can pick up weapons and food. has infravision. can be seen through infravision. normally appears in small groups.
Reference	monst.c#line1659

An ogre, O, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is a large, carnivorous humanoid with a single weapon attack.

Generation

Ogres may generate in small groups of two to four, and may be peaceful towards chaotic characters. They are generated with some gold and either a club (¹¹⁄₁₂ chance) or a battle-axe (¹⁄₁₂ chance), and can generate with offensive, defensive and miscellaneous items. An ogre can grow up into an ogre lord.

Ogres are the first quest monster for the Barbarian quest, composing 55% of the monsters randomly encountered there; they may also appear among the random O that make up 14% of randomly generated monsters and are placed at level creation on floors below the home level. Ogres are also generated on level creation for each floor of the quest: eleven on the home level, seven on the upper filler level, seventeen on the locate level, seven on the lower filler level(s), and sixteen on the goal level.

Strategy

Ogres are quite strong, but generally slow and can easily be picked off from a distance, especially with projectile weapons. Characters without the AC or weaponry to try and best an ogre in melee combat may usually prefer projectiles, though be mindful that ogres can often generate with wands.

Barbarians on their quest will want to be particularly mindful of the potential for wands - the flipside of this is that ogres make a good source of loot if they can be dispatched reliably and quickly. Ogre corpses are also a decently good source of nutrition for players and any carnivorous pets.

History

The ogre is introduced in NetHack 3.0.0.

From NetHack 3.1.0 to NetHack 3.2.3, ogres were the second quest monster for the Elf quest, composing 14% of randomly generated monsters in the branch, and each level of the quest below the home level also generated some ogres at level creation: one on the upper filler level, four on the locate level, two in the lower filler level(s), and eight on the goal level. Ogres were also among the random O that composed 3% of randomly generated monsters and were generated on the locate and goal floors at level creation.

Variants

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, four ogres appear in the halls of Grund's Stronghold.

GruntHack

In GruntHack, ogres are a playable race, and are also eligible to appear as the various racial monsters that appear in the dungeon, including shopkeepers and soldiers as well as lords and kings.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, ogres may appear in the court of a throne room ruled by an ogre king.

The Chaos Temple variant of the Chaos Quest generates 2 ogres within the forest area of the Ancient Temple level; ¹⁄₁₀ of the randomly generated monsters on that level will be Mordor orcs.

Encyclopedia entry

Anyone who has met a gluttonous, nude, angry ogre, will not
easily forget this encounter -- if he survives it at all.
Both male and female ogres can easily grow as tall as three
metres. Build and facial expressions would remind one of a
Neanderthal. Its small, pointy, keen teeth are striking.
Since ogres avoid direct sunlight, their ragged, unfurry
skin is as white as a sheet. They enjoy coating their body
with lard and usually wear nothing but a loin-cloth. An elf
would smell its rancid stench at ten metres distance.
Ogres are solitary creatures: very rarely one may encounter
a female with two or three young. They are the only real
carnivores among the humanoids, and its favourite meal is --
not surprisingly -- human flesh. They sometimes ally with
orcs or goblins, but only when they anticipate a good meaty
meal.

[ The Book of Rules; The Eye of the Master]