Warg

d warg
Difficulty	8
Attacks	Bite 2d6

d warg
Difficulty	8
Attacks	Bite 2d6
Base level	7
Base experience	92
Speed	12
Base AC	4
Base MR	0
Alignment	-5 (chaotic)
Frequency (by normal means)	2 (Quite rare)
Genocidable	Yes
Weight	850
Nutritional value	350
Size	Medium
Resistances	None
Resistances conveyed	None
A warg: has no hands. is an animal. is carnivorous. is normally generated hostile. can be seen through infravision. normally appears in small groups.
Reference	monst.c#line268

A warg, d, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is a medium-sized carnivorous canine that can be seen via infravision and is a stronger form of wolf, though wolves do not grow up into wards.

A warg has a single bite attack.

Generation

Randomly generated wargs are always created hostile, and may appear in small groups.

Werewolvess can summon hostile wargs by calling for help, with a ¹⁄₁₀ chance of generating a hostile warg on each adjacent square - a character that gets lycanthropy from a werewolf can similarly summon tame wargs using the #monster extended command by expending 10 power.

Wargs appear among the random d that are part of the first quest monster class for Samurai and make up ²⁴⁄₁₇₅ of the monsters randomly generated on the Samurai quest.

Strategy

While they are no faster or better in terms of AC than wolves, wargs still pose much of the same hurdles: a lone warg can be handled with some care by a prepared character, but packs of wargs and their bite attacks can spell serious trouble if you are slow, underpowered or else inattentive, and werewolves can surround you with wargs and other wolf-like monsters unless handled wisely.

On top of the usual melee and area-of-effect strategies for handling groups of monsters, wargs lack any MR score like weaker canines, leaving them quite vulnerable to magic and elemental attacks. Take out werewolves as soon as possible to ensure that they cannot overwhelm you with hordes of wargs and other lupine threats.

History

The warg first appears in NetHack 3.0.0.

Origin

The warg is derived from the Middle-Earth setting of J.R.R. Tolkien, where it is a particularly large and malevolent wolf-like being that is used as a mount by orcs. The name and spelling are a cross of Old Norse vargr and Old English wearh: the latter refers to an outcast or an outlaw in Old English, while the former arose as a non-taboo name for úlfr (normal Old Norse for "wolf"), and is used in particular to describe massive wolves such as Fenrir, who destroyed the god Odin in the battle of Ragnarök, and the wolves Sköll and Hati, Fenrir's children who perpetually chase the Sun and Moon.

In the setting of Middle-Earth, wargs actively ally themselves with the Orcs, whom they permit to ride on their backs into battle and share any resulting spoils with. They are also one of many animals within the world of Middle-Earth that are anthropomorphized and made at least semi-intelligent, alongside other examples such as the giant Mirkwood spiders - The Hobbit in particular indicates that wargs are capable of speech, as seen when they plan their part in "a great goblin-raid" on the woodmen's villages.

Variants

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, wargs do not randomly generate in Gehennom. This also applies to SlashTHEM.

The lycanthrope is a playable race that is essentially a human werewolf, and has a similar ability to switch between forms and summon tame wargs.

Wargs appear among the random d that are part of the second quest monster class for Yeomen and make up ⁶⁄₁₇₅ of the monsters randomly generated on the Yeoman quest.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, orcish characters are the only playable race that can tame wargs as domestic animals and use tame wargs as steeds, which allows them to wear saddles and barding - any other race of character that tries to apply a saddle or barding will un-tame the warg.

Goblin-captains always generate with warg mounts; Uruk-hai have a ¹⁄₇ chance of generating with warg mounts, and orc-captains have a ¹⁄₄ chance of generating with a warg mount. As with all mounts, there is a ¹⁄₁₀₀ chance of a warg generating with a saddle, and an even lower chance of a saddled warg generating with some form of barding. Vampire royals are capable of shapeshifting into wargs, rather than wolves as with vampire nobles.

SlashTHEM

In SlashTHEM, in addition to SLASH'EM details, the Lunatic role is similar to the lycanthrope starting race, including the ability to summon tame wargs.

Hack'EM

In Hack'EM, wargs can randomly generate in Gehennom unlike in SLASH'EM, and the lycanthrope race and Lunatic role are not present. All other details from SLASH'EM and SlashTHEM apply.

While monsters are no longer generated with mounts, orcish characters retain the ability from EvilHack to tame wargs and use them as steeds. Vampire royals retain the ability to shapeshift into wargs.

Encyclopedia entry

Suddenly Aragorn leapt to his feet. "How the wind howls!" he cried. "It is howling with wolf-voices. The Wargs have come west of the Mountains!"
"Need we wait until morning then?" said Gandalf. "It is as I said. The hunt is up! Even if we live to see the dawn, who now will wish to journey south by night with the wild wolves on his trail?"
"How far is Moria?" asked Boromir.
"There was a door south-west of Caradhras, some fifteen miles as the crow flies, and maybe twenty as the wolf runs," answered Gandalf grimly.
"Then let us start as soon as it is light tomorrow, if we can," said Boromir. "The wolf that one hears is worse than the orc that one fears."
"True!" said Aragorn, loosening his sword in its sheath. "But where the warg howls, there also the orc prowls."

[ The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien ]