Scorpion

s scorpion
Difficulty	8
Attacks	Claw 1d2, Claw 1d2, Sting 1d4 poison

s scorpion
Difficulty	8
Attacks	Claw 1d2, Claw 1d2, Sting 1d4 poison
Base level	5
Base experience	67
Speed	15
Base AC	3
Base MR	0
Alignment	0 (neutral)
Frequency (by normal means)	2 (Quite rare)
Genocidable	Yes
Weight	50
Nutritional value	100
Size	Small
Resistances	poison
Resistances conveyed	poison (50%)
A scorpion: can hide under items. has no hands. is an animal. can lay eggs. is poisonous to eat. is carnivorous. is normally generated hostile.
Reference	monst.c#line865

A scorpion, s, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is a small carnivorous and oviparous animal that has the highest difficulty among non-unique arachnid or centipede monsters, and like others in the monster class can hide under objects.

A scorpion has two claw attacks and a poisonous sting attack, and possesses poison resistance.

A scorpion corpse is poisonous to eat, but eating a scorpion corpse or tin has a ¹⁄₂ chance of conveying poison resistance.

Generation

Randomly generated scorpions are always created hostile.

The scorpion is the second quest monster for Rangers, and makes up ²⁴⁄₁₇₅ of the monsters randomly generated on the Ranger quest. Several scorpions are generated on each floor of the quest branch at level creation: two are placed randomly within the grove of the home level, one is generated on the upper filler level, four are generated on the locate level, two each are generated on the lower filler level(s), and six are generated on the goal level, including one in each corner of the map. Scorpions also appear among the random s that are part of the second quest monster class for Rangers, and make up ⁶⁄₁₇₅ of the monsters randomly generated there.

Scorpions additionally appear among the random s that are part of the first quest monster class for Tourists and make up ²⁴⁄₁₇₅ of the monsters randomly generated on the Tourist quest.

Scorpions generated at level creation are given a random item to hide under.

Strategy

Scorpions are quite fast at 15 speed, and while not much harder to hit than other monsters in their class, they can be a nasty surprise for the unprepared low-level character, especially if they lack poison resistance. As with other poisonous hiding monsters, projectiles and other ranged attacks are among the best methods to deal with a scorpion, and they can be kept away with Elbereth, though melee is viable if you have poison resistance. Characters with an extrinsic source of the property can eat a scorpion corpse to try and gain the extrinsic.

History

The scorpion first appears in Hack 1.0; a possible predecessor in the giant scorpion appears in Hack for PDP-11, based on Jay Fenlason's Hack. From NetHack 1.3d to NetHack 2.3e, the scorpion appears if the SPIDERS compile-time option is not defined, and is otherwise replaced by the giant spider. NetHack 3.0.0 includes both the giant spider and scorpion in its default bestiary.

Encyclopedia entry

A sub-species of the spider (_Scorpionidae_), the scorpion
distinguishes itself from them by having a lower body that
ends in a long, jointed tail tapering to a poisonous stinger.
They have eight legs and pincers.

[ Van Dale's Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal ]