Gold dragon
D gold dragon 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 20 |
| Attacks |
Breath 4d6 fire, Bite 3d8 physical, Claw 1d4 physical, Claw 1d4 physical |
| Base level | 15 |
| Base experience | 535 |
| Speed | 9 |
| Base AC | -1 |
| Base MR | 20 |
| Alignment | 4 (lawful) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 4500 |
| Nutritional value | 1500 |
| Size | Gigantic |
| Resistances | Fire resistance |
| Resistances conveyed | none |
|
A gold dragon:
| |
| Reference | NetHack 3.7 - commit 837da48, line 1442 |
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.
Gold dragons and baby gold dragons are added to NetHack. This page describes their 3.7 properties as of December 19, 2024.A gold dragon, D, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is an adult dragon associated with the element of light. Gold dragons can be seen via infravision and emit light from their body in a 3x3 square that is centered on themselves—their scales also emit light in a 2-square radius centered on them. Like all dragons, they are strong, carnivorous, oviparous, thick-skinned, can see invisible, and are capable of flight - they will also seek out gold, gems and magical items to pick up.
Gold dragons have a fire breath weapon, a strong bite attack, and two claw attacks that they are large enough to inflict knockback with. Gold dragons possess fire resistance, and gain hallucination resistance from their scales.
Contents
Generation
Randomly generated gold dragons are always created hostile. A baby gold dragon can grow up into a gold dragon.
Hostile gold dragons can be generated by the summon nasties monster spell. Characters and monsters that polymorph while wearing gold dragon scales or gold dragon scale mail will turn into gold dragons.
Gold dragons may appear among the hostile D generated in throne rooms at dungeon levels 15 and below, and can also appear among the monsters randomly generated by looting a throne while confused and carrying gold (provided there is no chest on the level).
Gold dragons have a 1⁄3 chance of dropping a set of uncursed +0 gold dragon scales upon death unless disintegrated, and the chance is reduced to 1⁄20 if the dragon was revived.
Strategy
While the gold dragon's fire breath is not as strong as that of the red dragon, it can still burn worn armor, scrolls, potions, and spellbooks in your open inventory, so a means to stash or otherwise protect flammable items is important if you do not have an extrinsic source of fire resistance. While a hero can usually obtain intrinsic fire resistance before encountering a gold dragon, the intrinsic resistance will only block HP damage—a worn dwarvish cloak protects inventory from fire and heat 9⁄10 of the time, while reflection will deflect the rays and prevent them from affecting your inventory at all.
Similar to red dragons, it may be prudent for heroes that lack a way to protect their vulnerable inventory to drop or ideally stash as much as possible, then try to close into melee range if they are capable of handling the dragon's attacks. This is complicated by the knockback from their claw attacks, which makes them exceedingly dangerous to fight near pools, lava or ice (which their breath weapon can subsequently melt). Upon obtaining extrinsic fire resistance to protect vulnerable items or a container to reliably stash them in, gold dragons become much easier to contend with, though drowning or dissolving in lava from a dragon's knockback remains potential threats.
History
The gold dragon is introduced in commit 5a09a01a.
Variants
SporkHack
In SporkHack, the gold dragon is chaotic rather than lawful, and its corpse and tin grant partial fire resistance when eaten. Its statistics are otherwise close to that of the gold dragon later seen in NetHack (as displayed above), as well as being similar to other dragons in SporkHack.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, gold dragons have the same basic statistics displayed above and the same abilities as other adult dragons in the variant, including the ability to scare opponents with their roar and the tendency of hostile dragons to fall asleep when they cannot find the hero.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, gold dragons emit light and possess fire breath, and behave similarly to other adult dragons in the variant.
SlashTHEM
SlashTHEM adds the similar golden dragon, which emits light in a 3-square radius around itself and behaves similarly to other adult dragons in the variant.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, gold dragons emit light and possess fire breath, and behave similarly to other adult dragons in the variant.
Encyclopedia entry
- See the encyclopedia entry for dragon.
