Pit fiend

& pit fiend
Difficulty	16
Attacks	Weapon 4d2, weapon 4d2, grabbing 2d4

& pit fiend
Difficulty	16
Attacks	Weapon 4d2, weapon 4d2, grabbing 2d4
Base level	13
Base experience	422
Speed	6
Base AC	-3
Base MR	65
Alignment	-13 (chaotic)
Frequency (by normal means)	2 (Quite rare)
Genocidable	No
Weight	1450
Nutritional value	400
Size	Large
Resistances	Fire, poison
Resistances conveyed	None
A pit fiend: can see invisible creatures. is poisonous to eat. does not eat. (*) is a demon. is normally generated hostile. can follow you to other levels. is nasty. can pick up weapons and food. has infravision. can be seen through infravision. appears only in Gehennom. never leaves a corpse.
Reference	monst.c#line2644

The pit fiend, &, is a demon that appears in NetHack.

Pit fiends generate YAFM when falling into pits, which they share with pit vipers.

Generation

Like most demons, the pit fiend is normally only generated in Gehennom, but is also a valid polymorph form that may appear in other branches of the dungeon due to polymorph traps. Pit fiends are also eligible for gating by other major demons, and may appear as the minion of a chaotic god.

Three pit fiends are generated each on the Plane of Earth and Plane of Fire.

Strategy

The pit fiend has a naturally low AC of -3 and three attacks per turn; the third hit is a grabbing attack, which can be especially perilous if you encounter them far earlier in the game than normal due to monsters polymorphing. They are quite slow at 6 speed however, however - Elbereth can be useful to drive them off and kite them, and you can also teleport yourself if grabbed, allowing you to escape or else prepare a means of fighting back (e.g. with a wand of cold or silver weapon).

In Gehennom where they normally occur, they are not as much of a threat - most players at this point will have a silver weapon or two, a few methods to deal cold damage, and better AC themselves along with a much more reliable hit-rate.

History

The pit fiend first appears in NetHack 3.0.0.

Messages

How pitiful. Isn't that the pits?

You saw a pit fiend fall into a pit, or fell into one while polymorphed into a pit fiend.

Variants

Lethe patch

In the Lethe patch, Demogorgon's lair in Gehennom has four pit fiends - one next to Demogorgon's throne, two others within the fortress, and the fourth guarding the down stair.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, pit fiends may be generated as peaceful minions for a chaotic player at experience levels 28 to 30 while sacrificing. A pit fiend named Hilvuuloth appears as one of the assistants of One-eyed Sam.

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, a pit fiend named Hilvuuloth is one of the assistants of One-eyed Sam, as with SLASH'EM.

NetHack Fourk

In NetHack Fourk, pit fiends are instead given a single claw attack and a new pit-creation attack in order to "live up to their name". Fourk also adds more pit-based puns to the game's message output.

The attack creates several pits around the target, always including one directly under them; if a square selected for pit creation already has one, it will become a hole. Most types of non-floor terrain, dungeon features and some kinds of existing traps are exempt from pit creation. Among other things, this makes wielding footrice corpses much more dangerous around pit fiends without levitation or flight.

xNetHack

In xNetHack, a different type of pit-creation attack inspired by Fourk is given to pit fiends, replacing their grabbing attack from vanilla. The attack has them stomp the ground to create a pit right under you, then grab and throw you into it; if the attempt to create a pit fails (usually due to the square in question being ineligible), the pit fiend "looks rather piteous".

Preexisting pits may rarely turn into holes; while the attack only works on "normal" terrain types, preexisting traps generally do not block the attack. Levitating or flying does not block the attack either, but you will avoid any damage taken from the pit itself and immediately float out of it.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, pit fiends can also stomp to create pits, with the implementation borrowed from xNetHack; said attack is adjusted to occur randomly 50% of the time, with the damage increased to 4d4.Their base experience is also adjusted, and they now have a slightly higher speed of 9.

Encyclopedia entry

Pit fiends are among the more powerful of devils, capable of
attacking twice with weapons as well as grabbing and crushing
the life out of those unwary enough to enter their
domains.