Xorn

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The xorn is a monster that appears in NetHack. It is the only member of the ​X xorn monster class.

The xorn is notable for its ability to phase through walls and eat metal. Xorns are also unbreathing and resistant to fire, cold, and stoning.

Generation

Xorns are rarely randomly generated, and typically will not be encountered until the Castle. Xorns can be generated on the Plane of Earth by digging with a pick-axe.

Strategy

Xorns have a decent AC of −2 and an extremely nasty bite, and their phasing can make them difficult to evade - however, they move at a slow 9 speed and respect Elbereth.

Of note is that xorns are kebabable (able to be skewered), granting a +2 to-hit bonus when using a weapon that uses the spear or javelin skills. They are also susceptible to digging attacks, granting a +2 to-hit bonus to when using pick-axes or dwarvish mattocks. However, improving to-hit through other means (e.g., boosting Luck) is not particularly difficult.

Monster xorns cannot cross the water in the castle level (although polymorphed heroes can). It is often enough to lure them across the drawbridge and raise it behind you. Xorns also cannot be destroyed by the drawbridge under normal circumstances due to their phasing - however, if there are two phasing monsters on both squares of the drawbridge (the portcullis and the moat in front), one of them will be killed if the drawbridge is raised.

Polyself

Due to their unusual abilities, xorns are one of the most useful monsters to polymorph into for various applications:

Xorns cannot wear body armor or cloaks, and morphing into a xorn will destroy them if you are wearing any - as such, be sure to remove these items before making the transformation. Note that you can cross water while polymorphed into a xorn, while other xorns cannot.

If you return to normal form while phasing through a wall adjacent to open space, you will be able to move into that. However, if you return to normal form while phasing through the middle of solid stone with no adjacent space, you will be unable to move - you can teleport out, pray (since being stuck in a wall while non-phasing is a major problem), or re-polymorph yourself into a xorn or earth elemental.

History

In NetHack 3.4.3, xorns were subject to a few notable bugs:

  • Xorns could be created in inaccessible areas, such as outside the Sokoban walls. This was bug C343-151.
  • When a player polymorphed into a xorn returned to their normal form and was in open space, they would be stuck in a pit that doesn't exist; this was bug C343-17.

Origin

The xorn originally comes from Dungeons & Dragons, where it also eats stone in addition to metals, which might explain the message present in the code for eating flint stones.

Encyclopedia entry

A distant cousin of the earth elemental, the xorn has the
ability to shift the cells of its body around in such a way
that it becomes porous to inert material. This gives it the
ability to pass through any obstacle that might be between it
and its next meal.

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.