Sewer rat
r sewer rat 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 1 |
| Attacks |
Bite 1d3 |
| Base level | 0 |
| Base experience | 1 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | 7 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 20 |
| Nutritional value | 12 |
| Size | Tiny |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
A sewer rat:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line734 |
A sewer rat, r, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is a tiny carnivorous animal that can be seen via infravision, and is the most basic form of rodent that a character will encounter.
A sewer rat has a single bite attack.
Contents
Generation
Randomly-generated sewer rats are always created hostile, and may appear in small groups. A sewer rat can grow up into a giant rat.
Quaffing from a sink has a 1⁄20 chance of generating a sewer rat if they are not genocided or extinct.[1]
Wererats can summon hostile sewer rats by calling for help, with a 2⁄3 chance of generating a hostile sewer rat on each adjacent square, and a character that gets lycanthropy from a wererat can similarly summon tame sewer rats using the #monster extended command with at least 10 power.[2]
Sewer rats appear among the random r that are part of the first quest monster class for Healers and make up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Healer quest.
Strategy
Sewer rats are very simple enemies: they move as fast as an unhasted character, appear more rarely than jackals and newts, and deal slightly more damage. All but the weakest and/or unluckiest starting characters should be able to deal with sewer rats, even in groups.
History
The sewer rat first appears in NetHack 3.0.0.
Origin
The brown rat (Rattus norvegicus), also known as the "sewer rat" among other names, is a widespread species of common rat and one of the largest of the rodent superfamily Muroidea. Sewer rats are brown or grey and have a body length of up to 28 cm (11 in) long, with a tail measuring slightly shorter than the rest of the body. Thought to have originated in northern China and neighbouring areas, this rodent has now spread to all continents except Antarctica, and is the dominant rat in Europe and much of North America. With rare exceptions, the brown rat lives wherever humans live, particularly in urban areas.
Selective breeding of the brown rat has produced both the fancy rats kept as pets and the laboratory rats used as model organisms in biological research - both are of the domesticated subspecies Rattus norvegicus domestica. Studies of wild rats in New York City have shown that populations living in different neighborhoods can evolve distinct genomic profiles over time, by slowly accruing different traits. Though brown rats prefer meat when given the chance, they are true omnivores rather than carnivores and will consume almost anything, with cereals forming a substantial part of their diet; a brown rat's foraging behavior is often population-specific, and varies by environment and food source.
Messages
- Eek! There's a sewer rat in the sink!
- A sewer rat was generated when you quaffed from a sink.
- Eek! There's something squirmy in the sink!
- As above, but you cannot see the rat.
- The sink seems quite dirty.
- As above, but sewer rats are genocided or extinct.
Variants
In variants that incorporate the Convict patch, all Convicts start with a tame sewer rat by default. Convicts can also pacify or tame sewer rats by chatting to them. Variants with the Convict role also give the sewer rat multiple tiers of growth similar to other starting pets: a sewer rat can grow up into a giant rat, then an enormous rat, and in all variants except UnNetHack they can become a rodent of unusual size.
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, sewer rats are not randomly generated in Gehennom. They can be tamed by throwing cheese at them, and consider the food a treat.
Quaffing from a toilet has an effective 1⁄45 chance of generating a sewer rat when quaffing in the form of a canine, and a 1⁄9 chance of generating one otherwise, unless sewer rats are extinct or genocided in either case.[3]
Two sewer rats are generated on each map of the Mall at level creation. Eight sewer rats appear in the Rat King's room on the rat level at level creation - black rats are monsters identical to sewer rats that appear solely on the rat level.
Sewer rats appear among the random r that are part of the first quest monster class for Yeomen and make up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Yeoman quest. Several sewer rats are also generated on various floors of the quest branch at level creation: four are generated in specific positions on the home level, and three each are generated on the lower filler level(s) and goal level.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, two sewer rats are generated on each map of the Town branch's town level at level creation.
dNetHack
In dNetHack and notdNetHack, sewer rats are omnivores rather than carnivores, and their corpses are poisonous to eat.
xNetHack
In xNetHack, sewer rats can hide under objects.
SpliceHack
SpliceHack uses the same map for the rat level as SLASH'EM, with sewer rats generated accordingly.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, Corsairs have a 1⁄5 chance of starting the game with a sewer rat as their default pet.
SlashTHEM uses an alternate "sewer" map for its version of the rat level, where twenty-eight sewer rats are generated at level creation, with eight placed on particular squares in the Rat King's dwelling - all other SLASH'EM details apply. SlashTHEM also contains the Town branch and its town maps, including the sewer rats generated at level creation.
The Geek quest home level has an upper enclosure with monsters whose glyphs spell out "May the force be with you" - the r is explicitly made a sewer rat to avoid generating rock moles that can tunnel through the walls.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, the rat level has an equal chance of using either the SLASH'EM room-and-corridors map or the sewer map (as in SlashTHEM), with sewer rats generated accordingly - the Town branch and its town maps are also present, including the sewer rats generated at level creation. Hack'EM also has toilets and the Yeoman role and quest, with SLASH'EM generation details applying.
Encyclopedia entry
Rats are long-tailed rodents. They are aggressive,
omnivorous, and adaptable, often carrying diseases.
"The rat," said O'Brien, still addressing his invisible
audience, "although a rodent, is carnivorous. You are aware
of that. You will have heard of the things that happen in
the poor quarters of this town. In some streets a woman dare
not leave her baby alone in the house, even for five minutes.
The rats are certain to attack it. Within quite a small time
they will strip it to the bones. They also attack sick or
dying people. They show astonishing intelligence in knowing
when a human being is helpless."
