Kobold zombie

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A kobold zombie, Z, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is a zombified kobold that is the weakest monster in the zombie monster class, and is likely to be one of the first you will encounter. Kobold zombies can follow you to other levels if they are adjacent to you.

A kobold zombie has a single claw attack.

Generation

Randomly generated kobold zombies are always hostile.

Kobold zombies may appear among the zombies and other monsters that are part of the first quest monster class for Priests, and make up 24175 of the monsters that are randomly generated on the Priest quest. The branch also has several undead-filled graveyards that include kobold zombies among their ranks.

A kobold zombie will leave an aged kobold corpse upon death.[1][2]

Strategy

Kobold zombies are pushovers compared to live kobolds, and are among the easier early monsters for most roles to handle - they cannot use items of any kind, and their claw attack is quite manageable.

For neutral protection racketeers, kobold zombies are the most ideal early monsters to encounter and kill directly, as killing cross-aligned hostile monsters enables safe prayer and boosts alignment record: zombies are among the few early options available, and the kobold zombie is very unlikely to provide an experience level since it gives only one experience point.

History

The kobold zombie first appears in NetHack 3.0.0, where most of the various zombies are first distinguished from each other.

Variants

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, kobold zombies can be created by using the raise zombies technique while adjacent to the corpse of any kobold (including ones left by undead).

GruntHack

In GruntHack, kobold zombies are replaced with the zombie racial monster, which kobolds are eligible to generate as. Any non-undead kobold monster killed by a zombie will become a kobold zombie.

Encyclopedia entry

The zombi ... is a soulless human corpse, still dead, but taken from the grave and endowed by sorcery with a mechanical semblance of life, -- it is a dead body which is made to walk and act and move as if it were alive.

[ W. B. Seabrook ]

References

  1. src/mon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 147: Converting monster index of undead to corpses of their living counterparts
  2. src/mon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 372: Undead corpses and their ages are handled with other "special" death drops