Orc shaman
o orc shaman 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 5 |
| Attacks |
Spell-casting 0d0 mage |
| Base level | 3 |
| Base experience | 38 |
| Speed | 9 |
| Base AC | 5 |
| Base MR | 10 |
| Alignment | -5 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 1000 |
| Nutritional value | 300 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
An orc shaman:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line650 |
An orc shaman, o, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. The orc shaman is a type of orc that can cast monster spells. Orc shamans are strong, have infravision, can be seen via infravision, and will seek out gold, gems and magical items to pick up.
An orc shaman will cast one mage monster spell during each of their turns.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (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.
As part of resolving issue #679 regarding congruence between non-player monsters and their player counterparts, commit b6a3d4b9 gives poison resistance to all orcs, except for the goblin and hobgoblin (in order to distinguish them from other orcs). Orc shamans also no longer have the strong attribute.Contents
Generation
Randomly generated orc shamans may be peaceful towards orcish heroes. They are the only orcs that do not appear in groups.
Orc shamans may appear among the hostile o that generate in throne rooms, 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).[1]
In a game that has Orcish Town, two to six orc shamans are generated near the desecrated temple of the ruined town at level creation[2]—other named orc shamans can appear elsewhere in the Gnomish Mines and the main branch, carrying various looted items with them.[3][4]
An orc shaman has a 1⁄2 chance of generating with an orcish helm, but will not receive a weapon.[5][6]
Strategy
Similar to other early game spellcasting monsters such as kobold shamans and gnomish wizards, orc shamans cast only the simplest monster spells: psi bolt, cure self, haste self, and sometimes stun. These spells will rarely succeed due to their somewhat slow 9 speed and low monster level, and as such, they are usually not a significant threat—be careful not to get stunned while dealing with them among groups of monsters, however.
As with other orcs, the corpse of an orc shaman is a good source of nutrition, and on the Orcish Town map of Minetown they make for worthwhile sacrifices, especially for orcish heroes that have converted the altar.
History
The orc shaman is introduced in NetHack 3.0.0, where the various orcish monsters are first differentiated from each other.
Origin
Like other orcs, the orc shaman is derived from Dungeons & Dragons, in turn based on their portrayal in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. The "tribal" aspects of orcs, including shamanistic practices, are primarily established and built on in the Warcraft franchise created by Blizzard Entertainment.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, five orc shamans generate in Grund's Stronghold at level creation: three appear in the halls, and the other two are placed within the throne room. Additionally, for dwarven and gnomish heroes, orc shamans will generate within the Gnomish Mines in place of gnomish wizards.[7]
GruntHack
In GruntHack, mages (and by extension shamans) are racial monsters, and orcs are eligible to generate as shamans.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack, and notnotdNetHack, orc shamans have a slightly wider selection of monster spells available, which they may catch you by surprise with.
Orc shamans may appear in the court of a throne room ruled by an orc-captain. The Chaos Temple variant of the Chaos Quest generates two orc shamans within the forest area of the Ancient Temple level, and 1⁄10 of the randomly generated monsters on the level will be orc shamans.
xNetHack
In xNetHack, orc shamans have poison resistance like other orcs, and also possess telepathy, allowing a hero with intrinsic telepathy to see them (and vice versa).
EvilHack
In EvilHack, orc shamans have identical stats to their appearance in vanilla NetHack, but also have poison resistance - they also cast clerical monster spells rather than mage spells, which makes them more of a potential threat along with the inclusion of more clerical spells. Orc shamans possess telepathy as in xNetHack, allowing a hero with intrinsic telepathy to see them (and vice versa)— eating an orc shaman corpse or tin may also grant intrinsic telepathy.
Monster stats by variant
| o orc shaman
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 5 |
| Attacks |
Cast 0d0 mage spell |
| Base level | 3 |
| Base experience | 50 |
| Speed | 9 |
| Base AC | 5 |
| Base MR | 10 |
| Alignment | -5 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 1000 |
| Nutritional value | 300 |
| Size | medium |
| Resistances | none |
| Resistances conveyed | none |
|
An orc shaman:
| |
| o orc shaman
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 5 |
| Attacks |
Spell-casting 0d0 clerical |
| Base level | 3 |
| Base experience | 23 |
| Speed | 9 |
| Base AC | 5 |
| Base MR | 10 |
| Alignment | -5 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 1000 |
| Nutritional value | 300 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | poison |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
A orc shaman:
| |
| Reference | EvilHack 0.8.1 - monst.c, line 910 |
Encyclopedia entry
Orcs, bipeds with a humanoid appearance, are related to the
goblins, but much bigger and more dangerous. The average orc
is only moderately intelligent, has broad, muscled shoulders,
a short neck, a sloping forehead and a thick, dark fur.
Their lower eye-teeth are pointing forward, like a boar's.
Female orcs are more lightly built and bare-chested. Not
needing any clothing, they do like to dress in variegated
apparels. Suspicious by nature, orcs live in tribes or
hordes. They tend to live underground as well as above
ground (but they dislike sunlight). Orcs can use all weapons,
tools and armors that are used by men. Since they don't have
the talent to fashion these themselves, they are constantly
hunting for them. There is nothing a horde of orcs cannot
use.
References
- Jump up ↑ src/mkroom.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 749
- Jump up ↑ dat/mines.des in NetHack 3.6.7, line 169
- Jump up ↑ src/mkmaze.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 740
- Jump up ↑ src/mkmaze.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 797
- Jump up ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 397: default orcish armor
- Jump up ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 427: Orc shamans are excluded from default orcish weapon generation
- Jump up ↑ sp_lev.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 854
