Arch Priest
@ Arch Priest 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 30 |
| Attacks |
Weapon 4d10 physical, kick 2d8 physical, spellcasting 2d8 clerical, spellcasting 2d8 clerical |
| Base level | 25 |
| Base experience | 876 |
| Speed | 15 |
| Base AC | 7 |
| Base MR | 90 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Unique |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | fire resistance, shock resistance, sleep resistance, poison resistance |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
The Arch Priest:
| |
| Reference | NetHack 5.0.0 - include/monsters.h, line 3544 |
The Arch Priest, @, is the Priest quest leader. He is identical to a high cleric in attacks, resistances and attributes, with the only difference being a slightly lower base speed.
The Arch Priest has a strong weapon attack, a kick attack, and will attempt to cast two clerical monster spells during each of his turns. He possesses fire resistance, shock resistance, sleep resistance, and poison resistance like high priests do.
Generation
The Arch Priest is always generated as peaceful, and is not a valid polymorph form or genocide target.
The Arch Priest resides within the Great Temple, the Cleric quest's home level, and is placed on the adjacent square to the east of the defaced temple's unaligned altar during level creation.[1]
The Arch Priest is always generated with a +4 robe and a +4 mace.[2]
Strategy
The Arch Priest is one of the strongest quest leaders in NetHack in terms of difficulty rating and sheer damage output, though this will not normally be witnessed in action unless you are generating conflict or choose to fight him for alternative entry to the Quest. A Cleric's lower amount of options for high average damage output, combined with their lower base physical stats, means that the Arch Priest will likely be harder to defeat for a Cleric hero than the similar Grand Master is for a Monk hero.
History
| @ Arch Priest
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 30 |
| Attacks |
Weapon 4d10 physical, kick 2d8 physical, spellcasting 2d8 clerical, spellcasting 2d8 clerical |
| Base level | 25 |
| Base experience | 876 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | 7 |
| Base MR | 70 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Unique |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | fire resistance, shock resistance, sleep resistance, poison resistance |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
The Arch Priest:
| |
| Reference | NetHack 3.6.7 - src/monst.c, line 2887 |
The Arch Priest is introduced with most other quest leaders in NetHack 3.1.0. From this version to NetHack 3.6.7, including some variants based on those versions, the Arch Priest lacks a starting inventory and has 12 speed and an MR score of 70. Angering or killing the quest leader also causes the game to become unwinnable in these versions, since the hero will either lose access to the magic portal that leads into their quest branch or else lose access to the lower floors of the quest.
Notably, the Arch Priest in these versions is much stronger than most other quest leaders, though this has little bearing outside of situations where a game is all but lost (if not completely lost). His MR score means that he is one of the hardest quest leaders to pacify through means such as the charm monster spell—doing so in the first place requires that the hero be a neutral Priest or Priestess capable of wishing for or otherwise obtaining The Eye of the Aethiopica in order to branchport back into the quest level.
NetHack 5.0.0 makes a major change to Quest mechanics via commit 20cbadcf: angering and/or killing quest leaders no longer makes the game unwinnable, and the Arch Priest and other quest leaders are given increased stats and additional equipment to compensate. The Arch Priest is one of two quest leaders to retain an unaltered attack routine, with the other being the Grand Master (whose stats are mostly copied from the Arch Priest).
Variants
NetHack variants based on versions prior to NetHack 5.0.0 often make the Arch Priest and other quest leaders stronger than they are in those versions to accommodate the variant's changes to the Quest and its entry mechanics, and some of these changes are later incorporated into NetHack 5.0.0 itself.
SporkHack
In SporkHack, the Arch Priest is buffed significantly from NetHack 3.4.3: his difficulty is increased to 31, his speed is increased to 15, and his MR score is increased to 90. He also gains flight and stoning resistance.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, the Arch Priest retains his statistics from NetHack 3.4.3 and always generates with four random scrolls, two random spellbooks, and a robe that has an enchantment ranging from +1 to +4.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, the Arch Priest retains his statistics from NetHack 3.4.3 except for AC: all three points of the Arch Priest's base AC are in the 'protection' category.
The Arch Priest always generates with a blessed +7 khakkhara, a blessed +7 robe, and a blessed +7 helm of brilliance.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, the Arch Priest's stats and resistances are identical to NetHack 5.0.0 with the addition of stoning resistance.
The Arch Priest always generates with a +4 robe and a +4 mace.
If The Mitre of Holiness is wished for by a non-Priest hero, there is a 1⁄x chance (where x is the amount of previous artifact wishes) of it being created successfully. If successful, the Arch Priest will generate as the hostile owner of the artifact, placed adjacent to the hero with the artifact in his possession.
All of the above information also applies to Hack'EM.
Encyclopedia entry
- See the encyclopedia entry for cleric.
