Chickatrice
c chickatrice 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 7 |
| Attacks | |
| Base level | 4 |
| Base experience | 136 |
| Speed | 4 |
| Base AC | 8 |
| Base MR | 30 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 10 |
| Nutritional value | 10 |
| Size | tiny |
| Resistances | poison resistance, stoning resistance |
| Resistances conveyed | poison resistance (27%) |
|
A chickatrice:
| |
| Reference | NetHack 5.0.0 - include/monsters.h, line 170 |
A chickatrice, c, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. The chickatrice is an omnivorous animal that can be seen via infravision, and is the weakest member of the cockatrice monster class. The cockatrice and chickatrice, collectively referred to as footrices, are among the more complex creatures in NetHack and one of the more threatening to the average hero, as both of them can inflict stoning upon heroes and other monsters alike.
A chickatrice possesses poison resistance and stoning resistance, and it has a bite attack, a passive attack that causes instant stoning on skin contact, and a touch attack that can initiate delayed stoning:[1][2] if the chickatrice's touch attack hits, there is a 1⁄3 chance of the chickatrice hissing afterwards if it is not cancelled—if this hissing occurs and the hero lacks stoning resistance, there is a base 1⁄10 chance that they will begin turning to stone, which always occurs during a new moon. This is a delayed instadeath that removes intrinsic speed, and the hero has a limited amount of time to cure it before they become a lifeless statue—since the death is not caused by HP loss, polymorphed heroes will become statues of their current forms, while heroes polymorphed into golems other than a stone golem will become a stone golem instead.[3] Most monsters that are subjected to stoning by the chickatrice's touch attack will instantly turn into statues, while non-stone golems will become stone golems.[4][5][6] A chickatrice's corpse will still cause stoning on contact even after death, and can only be safely picked up by a hero or monster with either worn gloves or stoning resistance.[7][8]
Eating a chickatrice corpse or tin, or else engulfing a live chickatrice, will instantly turn the eater to stone on the first bite unless they have stoning resistance.[9][10][11][12] Monsters without stoning resistance will avoid consuming a chickatrice corpse. If a chickatrice corpse is eaten by a hero with stoning resistance, YAFM is printed and the meat has a 4⁄15 chance (27%) of granting poison resistance[13]—a monster with stoning resistance that eats a chickatrice corpse or tin can also gain poison resistance. A hero eating a chickatrice corpse or tin gains temporary intrinsic stoning resistance for 3-18 turns upon finishing (although stoning resistance is required to do so in the first place), and temporary stoning resistance will not expire while the hero is eating a chickatrice corpse or any other meal that causes stoning.[14][15][16][17]
Contents
Generation
Randomly-generated chickatrices are always hostile, and may appear in small groups. A chickatrice can grow up into a cockatrice, and a cockatrice egg will hatch into a chickatrice.
If a hero wishes for a chickatrice corpse while being unable to safely handle it, it will appear on the floor at their feet instead of being placed into their inventory.
A hero that is not stoning-resistant and is killed by stoning or HP damage from a chickatrice will leave a statue instead of a ghost if a bones file is created.[18]
Strategy
Both the chickatrice and cockatrice are considered serious nuisances at best, since they are often the source of many YASDs: Chickatrices can appear earlier than cockatrices and occur in groups, and are tiny enough to pass through iron bars—they are also weaker and much less common, much slower at 4 speed, and are much less likely to leave corpses.
Magic cancellation will not protect against any of the stoning attack's stages, but good AC will prevent the touch attack from landing, and cancellation will prevent the chickatrice from hissing—note that it does not cancel any of the other stoning qualities of a chickatrice or its corpse, including the stoning caused by bare-skin contact. Worn yellow dragon scales or yellow dragon scale mail will prevent stoning from live and dead chickatrices outright. The article on cockatrices contains a more in-depth look at methods of dealing with footrices, footrice meat and footrice eggs, all of which also apply to chickatrices.
Eating a lizard corpse is among the most reliable cures for sudden stoning:[19][20] eating the corpse or tin of an acidic monster or quaffing a potion of acid (particularly for vegetarians and vegans) will also cure stoning, but there is no guarantee of being able to grab the item quickly enough.[21] Merely biting into the corpse of a lizard (or any acidic monster) cures stoning, so interruptions can allow for one lizard corpse to cure a few instances of stoning before it is fully eaten—finishing off a lizard corpse also grants temporary stoning resistance, granting the hero further safety from repeated stoning for a short time.[15] Heroes can prepare for the speed loss ahead of time by applying a tinning kit to create a quantum mechanic tin, or keeping potions of speed in a bag or other container.
Like with the cockatrice, chickatrice corpses are useful as a form of "weapon" that can cause stoning if a hero wields one while wearing gloves or possessing stoning resistance from a source such as yellow dragon scale mail (with the former being generally much safer).[22][23] When wishing for a footrice corpse to use as a weapon, partly eaten chickatrice corpses are preferred as the lightest possible stoning implement that can be wielded and used repeatedly. Be careful leaving them around monsters that have stoning resistance or worn gloves, since they will also use chickatrice corpses this way, and avoid wielding the corpse near hazards such as pits or trap doors!
History
The chickatrice first appears in NetHack-- 3.0.10, and makes its vanilla NetHack debut in NetHack 3.3.0.
From NetHack 3.3.0 to NetHack 3.6.7, including some variants based on these versions, the following applies to chickatrices, their corpses and their tins:
- Chickatrices are defined as granting stoning resistance from a hero eating their corpse or tin, but the feature is not implemented until the release of NetHack 5.0.0 enables the mechanic via commit 071d79dc and commit e96d4ea9—NetHack 5.0.0 also adds the ability for monsters to gain resistances from eating corpses via commit 8d2407f1.
- A hero that carries a lizard corpse in their open inventory during a new moon only has the normal 1⁄10 chance of the chickatrice's hiss initiating the stoning process—this effect is removed in NetHack 5.0.0 via commit 8a9dc00c.
- Chickatrice corpses that are wished for will always be placed in the inventory if possible like other items—NetHack 5.0.0 implements the current placement conditions for a wished footrice corpse via commit 9c554895.
Chickatrices are also subject to a few bugs over these versions:
- Smashing a wielded potion of polymorph over a monster while not wearing gloves will stone the hero if the monster is turned into a footrice as a result. This is bug #C343-31, and is fixed in May 2004 for NetHack 3.6.0.
- Jabberwocks can wield things and hit monsters with them, but secondary effects will not trigger—footrice corpses will not petrify monsters, silver weapons do not deal extra damage to silver-haters, and so on. These are bugs #UNL343-080 and #UNL343-081, and are fixed in 2011 via commit 164f498a and commit 8dfb62a9.
- Manually flying down a hole or trap door while wielding a footrice corpse will turn the hero to stone, as if they had fallen down them normally—this is fixed in NetHack 5.0.0 via commit 7efba965.
Origin
A chickatrice is a younger form of cockatrice, a mythical beast that features prominently in medieval bestiaries and English folklore, and is first mentioned in the 14th century John Wycliffe translation of the Bible, with the word used for the translation of various Hebrew words for "asp" and "adder" in the Book of Isaiah. The cockatrice appears as a two-legged serpentine creature with a rooster's head and bat wings; it is said to hatch from a rooster's egg, especially one incubated by a serpent or toad. and is reputed to be capable of killing with as little as a look, touch or breath.
The cockatrice has significant overlap with the mythical snake known as the basilisk: basilisks are said to be so full of venom that they leave a wide trail of deadly venom in their wake, and can similarly kill with a gaze; medieval bestiaries attribute chicken-like traits to the basilisk and popularized the idea of them being born from a chicken hatching the egg of a serpent or toad, which is the reverse of the cockatrice. Both also share a weakness to "weasels" (likely the mongoose, which had some immunity to snake venom) as well as their own reflected gazes and the crowing of roosters, and are likely based off the Nile crocodile—as a result, the basilisk and cockatrice referred to interchangeably (for example, the encyclopedia entry that both share in variants of NetHack), and many languages still translate the term "cockatrice" as "basilisk" in some form.
Modern incarnations of the basilisk and cockatrice, such as those seen in Dungeons & Dragons and various other fantasy media, characterize the creatures' lethal venoms as a petrifying substance that turned victims to stone, and later works portray them as distinct creatures: the modern cockatrice is a somewhat more bird-like creature as opposed to the fully lizard-like or serpentine basilisk. The cockatrice of Dungeons & Dragons debuts in the original 1974 white box as a weaker form of basilisk with a stoning touch and the ability to fly, and is further differentiated in later editions.
Cockatrices can be found in almost any region, and typically prefer temperate or tropical regions, where they reside either underground or above ground in plains; some scattered numbers of cockatrices can be found in the Elemental Plane of Earth. Their beaks inflict minor damage, but their bite can permanently turn creatures to stone—some editions allow the petrifying aura to penetrate the Astral and Ethereal planes, much like basilisk gazes. Cockatrices are immune to their own petrifying bite and that of other cockatrices, but they are not immune to petrification through other means unlike in NetHack. A cockatrice is very territorial and ferociously attacks perceived threats; flocks of cockatrices often attempt to overwhelm or confuse their opponents, and frequently fly at their faces.
Messages
- The <chickatrice> touches you!
- A chickatrice landed its touch attack.
- You hear the <chickatrice>'s hissing!
- This follows the above with a 1⁄3 chance; this will always cause gradual stoning to begin on a new moon if you are not carrying a lizard corpse, and otherwise has a 1⁄10 chance of triggering it.
- You hear a cough from the <chickatrice>!
- As above, but the chickatrice is cancelled, and nothing happens.
- This tastes just like chicken!
- You ate a chickatrice corpse with stoning resistance.
Variants
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, chickatrices and cockatrices are considered avian and reptilian.
NetHack Fourk
In NetHack Fourk, chickatrices that are generated during level creation will have one or more statues placed somewhere in the area around them.
A hero that is hallucinating can safely touch a chickatrice corpse (on the basis that they are already "stoned").
xNetHack
In xNetHack, a chickatrice or group of chickatrices that is generated outside of special rooms during level creation will have one or more statues placed somewhere in the area around them, with the potential area made wider than in Fourk. Chickatrices can also be generated in cockatrice nests.
A chickatrice's hissing induces delayed stoning 1⁄5 of the time unless it is a new moon, and will have no effect if the hero is deaf.
As in Fourk, a hero that is hallucinating can safely touch a chickatrice corpse.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, a werecockatrice summoning help will generate up to 5 hostile monsters on a square adjacent or close to it that each have an effective 7⁄9 chance of being a chickatrice. Heroes that get lycanthropy from a werecockatrice are can summon tame chickatrices with the same odds by using the #monster extended command and expending 10 power, and it is considered cannibalism for such a hero to eat a chickatrice.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, monsters subjected to stoning by a chickatrice's touch attack or a wielded chickatrice corpse will experience delayed stoning and loss of intrinsic speed as the hero does.
Encyclopedia entry
Once in a great while, when the positions of the stars are
just right, a seven-year-old rooster will lay an egg. Then,
along will come a snake, to coil around the egg, or a toad,
to squat upon the egg, keeping it warm and helping it to
hatch. When it hatches, out comes a creature called basilisk,
or cockatrice, the most deadly of all creatures. A single
glance from its yellow, piercing toad's eyes will kill both
man and beast. Its power of destruction is said to be so
great that sometimes simply to hear its hiss can prove fatal.
Its breath is so venomous that it causes all vegetation
to wither.
There is, however, one creature which can withstand the
basilisk's deadly gaze, and this is the weasel. No one knows
why this is so, but although the fierce weasel can slay the
basilisk, it will itself be killed in the struggle. Perhaps
the weasel knows the basilisk's fatal weakness: if it ever
sees its own reflection in a mirror it will perish instantly.
But even a dead basilisk is dangerous, for it is said that
merely touching its lifeless body can cause a person to
sicken and die.
See also
- Cocaktrice Spoiler by David Corbett for NetHack 3.4.2 and 3.4.3, mirrored on alt.org
References
- ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 4202-L4262: case for footrice stoning attacks
- ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 5934-L5957: case for hero attacking a footrice
- ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 3923-L3942
- ↑ src/mhitu.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 2482-L2507
- ↑ src/mhitm.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1032-L1056
- ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 3944-L3978
- ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 272-L281
- ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 283-L299: fatal_corpse_mistake() function
- ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 5010-L5014
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 794-L810: cprefx() function
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1866-L1867
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 2560-L2575
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1971-L1973
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 471-L493: temporary resistances are extended through a dangerous meal that is made safe by that resistance
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 src/eat.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 932-L935: corpses of stone-resistant monsters can grant stoning resistance
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 991-L997: monster level determines chance of temporary intrinsics
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1089-L1095: duration of temporary stoning resistance
- ↑ src/end.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1211-L1212
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 827-L830: eating a lizard cures stoning immediately
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 866-L877: fix_petrification() function
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 859-L862: eating an acidic monster cures stoning immediately
- ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1151-L1176
- ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 4145-L4150: monsters using footrice corpses against other monsters
