Death (monster) - Revision history

Umbire the Phantom: pothole

2026-05-18T23:21:02Z

pothole

Umbire the Phantom: /* Origin */ punc

2026-03-28T09:53:23Z

‎Origin: punc

Umbire the Phantom: /* Origin */ fix fumbled WP link

2025-09-27T12:05:06Z

‎Origin: fix fumbled WP link

Umbire the Phantom: /* Origin */ sandman

2025-09-27T12:04:48Z

‎Origin: sandman

Umbire the Phantom: /* History */ detail

2025-09-27T11:29:39Z

‎History: detail

Umbire the Phantom: /* Origin */ copyedit

2025-09-27T11:27:54Z

‎Origin: copyedit

Umbire the Phantom: and finally, best rider

2025-09-27T11:10:36Z

and finally, best rider

Show changes

Joes: two typos

2025-09-18T13:15:08Z

two typos

Umbire the Phantom: /* History */ copyedit

2025-01-16T12:30:20Z

‎History: copyedit

Umbire the Phantom: let's keep it simple

2024-12-16T17:07:11Z

let's keep it simple

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 Death and the other Riders will [[revive]] from their [[corpse]] after they are destroyed, which has a {{frac|3}} chance of occurring each turn and is guaranteed to occur after 500 turns, and they will also revive in response to an action that would prevent it otherwise, e.g. a [[tinning kit]] is applied to the corpse, something attempts to pick it up, the corpse is teleported, or a [[boulder]] is pushed or lands onto onto its square.{{refsrc|src/do.c|1880|version=NetHack 3.6.7|comment=<tt>revive_mon</tt> function}}{{refsrc|src/do.c|1900|version=NetHack 3.6.7|comment=cases for Rider revival}}{{refsrc|src/mkobj.c|1201|version=NetHack 3.6.7|comment=In practice, unless there is something wrong with the RNG, this 500-turn limit will never be hit.}}{{refsrc|src/teleport.c|1432|version=NetHack 3.6.7|comment=Teleporting a dead Rider always revives them}}
-Death has [[teleport control]], which has a {{frac|12|13}} chance of placing them adjacent to the hero if they are teleported.{{refsrc|src/teleport.c|1576|version=NetHack 3.6.7}} They also ignore the effects of [[sanctuary]], are unaffected by [[Elbereth]], can unlock [[door]]s without an [[unlocking tool]], and can [[displace]] other monsters that are in their path unless the monster is occupying a square where a corpse cannot be generated.{{refsrc|src/mon.c|1589|version=NetHack 3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/monmove.c|820|version=NetHack 3.6.7}}
+Death has [[teleport control]], which has a {{frac|12|13}} chance of placing them adjacent to the hero if they are teleported.{{refsrc|src/teleport.c|1576|version=NetHack 3.6.7}} They also ignore the effects of [[sanctuary]], are unaffected by [[Elbereth]], can unlock [[door]]s without an [[unlocking tool]], and can [[M3_DISPLACES|displace other monsters]] that are in their path unless the monster is occupying a square where a corpse cannot be generated.{{refsrc|src/mon.c|1589|version=NetHack 3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/monmove.c|820|version=NetHack 3.6.7}}
 Death has a unique and powerful 'deadly touch' attack that they use twice per round:{{refsrc|src/mhitu.c|1590|version=NetHack 3.6.7|comment=<tt>AD_DETH</tt> damage type}} the attack has a {{frac|4}} chance of failing, and will otherwise deal physical damage while reducing the hero's maximum [[HP]];{{refsrc|src/mhitu.c|1609|version=NetHack 3.6.7|comment=default touch damage}}{{refsrc|src/mhitu.c|1613|version=NetHack 3.6.7|comment=touch failure cases}} if the hero does not have magic resistance, there is a {{frac|3|20}} chance of [[instadeath]], which is changed to physical damage if the hero is [[undead]].{{refsrc|src/mhitu.c|1592|version=NetHack 3.6.7|comment="deadly" touch against undead hero}}{{refsrc|src/mhitu.c|1598|version=NetHack 3.6.7|comment=instadeath chance}}  Death's deadly touch has no effect on monsters, though a second successful hit damages and stuns monsters as they do the hero.{{refsrc|src/mhitm.c|1449|version=NetHack 3.6.7|comment=Unhandled cases default to 0 damage}}

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 {{wikipedia|Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse}}
 {{wikipedia|Death (Discworld)}}
-Death is one of the [[wikipedia:Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse|Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse]] (or the Riders of the Apocalypse), who appear in ''The Book of Revelation'', the last book of most common versions of the Christian Bible. The sixth chapter of the book has verses describing Death and the other Riders as they appear when the Lamb (representing Jesus) opens six of the seven seals of the Apocalypse—these quotes are cited from the New International Version:
+Death is one of the [[wikipedia:Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse|Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse]] (or the Riders of the Apocalypse) who appear in ''The Book of Revelation'', the last book of most common versions of the Christian Bible. The sixth chapter of the book has verses describing Death and the other Riders as they appear when the Lamb (representing Jesus) opens six of the seven seals of the Apocalypse—these quotes are cited from the New International Version:
 {{message|I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.}}

@@ Line 75: / Line 75: @@
 Death's role is partly that of a device through which Pratchett explores human existence, and he becomes more sympathetic as the series progresses: he almost never kills anyone or anything directly, but merely acts in his role as a psychopomp to ensure that when lives comes to an end, they move on to where they believe they should go if they are sentient, which often involves a desert to be crossed. He appears in every single ''Discworld'' novel with the exception of ''The Wee Free Men'' and ''Snuff'' (hence his messages suggesting he may be "{{smallcaps|misquoted}}" in them).
-The chat message where Death is "reading a copy of Sandman #8" refers to Death of the Endless, another personification of death who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. She first appears in [[The Sandman (comic book)|''The Sandman'' vol. 2, #8]] (August 1989) and was created by Neil Gaiman and Mike Dringenberg. Death is one of the seven Endless, powerful beings who are older than gods and exist throughout creation as conceptual ideas given physical form&mdash;she is also unlike many other fictional and mythical personifications of death. Rather than being male or genderless, she appears as an attractive, pale goth girl dressed in casual clothes, often a black top and jeans, with a silver ankh on a chain around her neck, and a marking similar to the eye of Horus around her right eye. Death is generally pleasant, kind, down-to-earth, and perky, serving as a nurturing figure for both incarnations of her younger 'brother' Dream (the titular "Sandman"). As opposed to being solely a psychopomp, Death is also a bringer of life and death in equal measure: she visits people and other entities twice throughout their existence, once as they are born to give them life and again as they die, though only she remembers these encounters.
+The chat message where Death is "reading a copy of Sandman #8" refers to Death of the Endless, another personification of death who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. She first appears in [[wikipedia:The Sandman (comic book)|''The Sandman'' vol. 2, #8]] (August 1989) and was created by Neil Gaiman and Mike Dringenberg. Death is one of the seven Endless, powerful beings who are older than gods and exist throughout creation as conceptual ideas given physical form&mdash;she is also unlike many other fictional and mythical personifications of death. Rather than being male or genderless, she appears as an attractive, pale goth girl dressed in casual clothes, often a black top and jeans, with a silver ankh on a chain around her neck, and a marking similar to the eye of Horus around her right eye. Death is generally pleasant, kind, down-to-earth, and perky, serving as a nurturing figure for both incarnations of her younger 'brother' Dream (the titular "Sandman"). As opposed to being solely a psychopomp, Death is also a bringer of life and death in equal measure: she visits people and other entities twice throughout their existence, once as they are born to give them life and again as they die, though only she remembers these encounters.
 ==Messages==

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:04, 27 September 2025
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	Death's role is partly that of a device through which Pratchett explores human existence, and he becomes more sympathetic as the series progresses: he almost never kills anyone or anything directly, but merely acts in his role as a psychopomp to ensure that when lives comes to an end, they move on to where they believe they should go if they are sentient, which often involves a desert to be crossed. He appears in every single ''Discworld'' novel with the exception of ''The Wee Free Men'' and ''Snuff'' (hence his messages suggesting he may be "{{smallcaps\|misquoted}}" in them).		Death's role is partly that of a device through which Pratchett explores human existence, and he becomes more sympathetic as the series progresses: he almost never kills anyone or anything directly, but merely acts in his role as a psychopomp to ensure that when lives comes to an end, they move on to where they believe they should go if they are sentient, which often involves a desert to be crossed. He appears in every single ''Discworld'' novel with the exception of ''The Wee Free Men'' and ''Snuff'' (hence his messages suggesting he may be "{{smallcaps\|misquoted}}" in them).
		+
		+	The chat message where Death is "reading a copy of Sandman #8" refers to Death of the Endless, another personification of death who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. She first appears in [[The Sandman (comic book)\|''The Sandman'' vol. 2, #8]] (August 1989) and was created by Neil Gaiman and Mike Dringenberg. Death is one of the seven Endless, powerful beings who are older than gods and exist throughout creation as conceptual ideas given physical form—she is also unlike many other fictional and mythical personifications of death. Rather than being male or genderless, she appears as an attractive, pale goth girl dressed in casual clothes, often a black top and jeans, with a silver ankh on a chain around her neck, and a marking similar to the eye of Horus around her right eye. Death is generally pleasant, kind, down-to-earth, and perky, serving as a nurturing figure for both incarnations of her younger 'brother' Dream (the titular "Sandman"). As opposed to being solely a psychopomp, Death is also a bringer of life and death in equal measure: she visits people and other entities twice throughout their existence, once as they are born to give them life and again as they die, though only she remembers these encounters.

	==Messages==		==Messages==

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 In [[NetHack 3.4.3]] and previous versions, including some variants based on them, a hero can polymorph themself into a [[green slime]] and turn Death and the Riders to slime, since the sliming touch attack is not considered magical&mdash;similarly, a substantial herd of tamed green slimes stands some chance of turning a Rider into a slime, although this is only somewhat less risky; in either case, the resulting green slime can then be tamed. Additionally, a hostile [[gelatinous cube]] can engulf Rider corpses without trying to digest them, allowing the hero to steal them from the cube's inventory using a [[Nymph (monster class)|nymphs]] polyself: a hero that can lift 1450 units of [[weight]] can use several methods to dispose of the stolen corpse permanently, such as placing it in a cursed [[bag of holding]] on the floor and then repeatedly [[loot]]ing it without using up any further turns. In these versions, it is also possible to [[Farming#Death farming|farm Death]] for exotic drops and billions of points.
-[[NetHack 3.6.0]] makes Death and the Riders immune to sliming and polymorph, prevents gelatinous cubes from engulfing their corpses, and grants the Riders their ability to displace other monsters.
+[[NetHack 3.6.0]] makes Death and the Riders immune to sliming and polymorph, prevents gelatinous cubes from engulfing their corpses, and grants the Riders their ability to displace other monsters. This version also introduces Death's speech quirk and other characterizations as part of the series' tribute to Terry Pratchett.
 The inability for Death and the Riders to displace monsters located on squares that cannot have corpses created on them (such as a closed door) is added in [[NetHack 3.6.3]], in order to ensure that Rider corpses are created when they are killed.

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 {{message|They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.|Revelation 6:8-9}}
-Death is also a fictional character in Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' series, where he serves as a parody of depictions of [[Wikipedia:Grim Reaper|the Grim Reaper]], a very similar figure commonly portrayed as a psychopomp and bringer of death, from across Europe. He is a black-robed skeleton who usually carries a scythe, as well as a sword for dispatching royalty. Death is a minion of Azrael, who is the "Death" of all things across the Universes, and his jurisdiction is specifically the Discworld itself—similarly, the Death of Rats that appears in some of the novels is an infinitesimally small part of Death himself.
+Death is also a fictional character in Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' series. There, he serves as a parody of depictions of [[Wikipedia:Grim Reaper|the Grim Reaper]], a very similar figure commonly portrayed as a psychopomp and bringer of death across Europe and other regions. Death is a black-robed skeleton who usually carries a scythe, as well as a sword for dispatching royalty&mdash;he speaks in {{smallcaps|ALL CAPS}} via telepathy, as he lacks vocal cords. Death is a minion of Azrael whose jurisdiction is specifically the Discworld itself, with Azrael being the "Death" of all things across the Universes—similarly, the Death of Rats that appears in some of the novels is an infinitesimally small part of Death himself.
-Death's role is partly that of a device through which Pratchett explores human existence, and becomes more sympathetic as the series progresses; he almost never kills anyone or anything directly, but merely acts in his role as a psychopomp to ensure that when lives comes to an end, they move on to where they believe they should go if they are sentient, which often involves a desert to be crossed. Death appears in every single ''Discworld'' novel with the exception of ''The Wee Free Men'' and ''Snuff'', and he speaks in {{smallcaps|ALL CAPS}} via telepathy, as he lacks vocal cords.
+Death's role is partly that of a device through which Pratchett explores human existence, and he becomes more sympathetic as the series progresses: he almost never kills anyone or anything directly, but merely acts in his role as a psychopomp to ensure that when lives comes to an end, they move on to where they believe they should go if they are sentient, which often involves a desert to be crossed. He appears in every single ''Discworld'' novel with the exception of ''The Wee Free Men'' and ''Snuff'' (hence his messages suggesting he may be "{{smallcaps|misquoted}}" in them).
 ==Messages==

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 {{otheruses|the Rider known as Death|other uses of the term|death}}
-'''Death''', {{monsym|Death}}, is a [[unique]] [[monster]] that appears in ''[[NetHack]]''. Death is one of the three [[Riders]]: they are [[strong]], have [[infravision]], can [[see invisible]], can be seen via infravision, are capable of [[flight]] and [[regeneration]], and will [[revive]] from their [[corpse]] if destroyed - the revival has a {{frac|3}} chance of occurring each turn, with a guaranteed revival after 500 turns, and revival always occurs in response to attmpts to move, pick up, block, or otherwise remove the corpse.{{refsrc|src/do.c|1880|version=NetHack 3.6.7|comment=<tt>revive_mon</tt> function}}{{refsrc|src/do.c|1900|version=NetHack 3.6.7|comment=cases for Rider revival}}{{refsrc|src/mkobj.c|1201|version=NetHack 3.6.7|comment=In practice, unless there is something wrong with the RNG, this 500-turn limit will never be hit.}}{{refsrc|src/teleport.c|1432|version=NetHack 3.6.7|comment=Teleporting a dead Rider always revives them}}
+'''Death''', {{monsym|Death}}, is a [[unique]] [[monster]] that appears in ''[[NetHack]]''. Death is one of the three [[Riders]]: they are [[strong]], have [[infravision]], can [[see invisible]], can be seen via infravision, are capable of [[flight]] and [[regeneration]], and will [[revive]] from their [[corpse]] if destroyed - the revival has a {{frac|3}} chance of occurring each turn, with a guaranteed revival after 500 turns, and revival always occurs in response to attempts to move, pick up, block, or otherwise remove the corpse.{{refsrc|src/do.c|1880|version=NetHack 3.6.7|comment=<tt>revive_mon</tt> function}}{{refsrc|src/do.c|1900|version=NetHack 3.6.7|comment=cases for Rider revival}}{{refsrc|src/mkobj.c|1201|version=NetHack 3.6.7|comment=In practice, unless there is something wrong with the RNG, this 500-turn limit will never be hit.}}{{refsrc|src/teleport.c|1432|version=NetHack 3.6.7|comment=Teleporting a dead Rider always revives them}}
 Death has [[teleport control]], which has a {{frac|12|13}} chance of placing them adjacent to the hero if they are teleported.{{refsrc|src/teleport.c|1576|version=NetHack 3.6.7}} They also ignore the effects of [[sanctuary]], are unaffected by [[Elbereth]], can unlock [[door]]s without an [[unlocking tool]], and can [[displace]] other monsters that are in their path unless the monster is occupying a square where a corpse cannot be generated.{{refsrc|src/mon.c|1589|version=NetHack 3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/monmove.c|820|version=NetHack 3.6.7}}
@@ Line 49: / Line 49: @@
 Death possesses [[Magic resistance (monster)|full monster MR]], -5 [[AC]], is immune to death rays, and cannot have their maximum HP drained, but they are generally not considered the most dangerous of the Riders: magic resistance can prevent the worst outcomes of its deadly touch attack (but [[hallucination]] does not, as with the [[touch of death]] [[monster spell]]).
-Like the other Riders, Death can be dispatched quickly with high damage output, especially from any [[ranged weapon]] in order to avoid contending with their deadly touch, and the [[expensive camera]] can [[scare]] them off. Spellcasting heroes with a high [[experience level]] and access to the {{+ of|magic missile}} spell can bring Death down in a few shots (especially with rebounds), while heroes with highly-enchanted projectiles can also defeat Death with a few volleys. Melee-focused heroes can still bring Death down quickly enough in order to prevent them attacking too often As the primary objective is to find the high altar of the hero's alignment and ascend, it is generally unwise to get bogged down in killing Death and the Riders repeatedly outside of bragging rights strategies.
+Like the other Riders, Death can be dispatched quickly with high damage output, especially from any [[ranged weapon]] in order to avoid contending with their deadly touch, and the [[expensive camera]] can [[scare]] them off. Spellcasting heroes with a high [[experience level]] and access to the {{+ of|magic missile}} spell can bring Death down in a few shots (especially with rebounds), while heroes with highly-enchanted projectiles can also defeat Death with a few volleys. Melee-focused heroes can still bring Death down quickly enough in order to prevent them attacking too often. As the primary objective is to find the high altar of the hero's alignment and ascend, it is generally unwise to get bogged down in killing Death and the Riders repeatedly outside of bragging rights strategies.
 ==History==

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 Death first appears in [[NetHack 3.1.0]], which adds the revamped [[endgame]] featuring the Riders and the Astral Plane. From this version to [[NetHack 3.3.1]], including some variants based on those versions, Death's deadly touch attack was one part of [[Yeenoghu#"A ludicrous bug"|a long-running]] [[software bug]] that was only reported and fixed prior to the release of [[NetHack 3.4.0]].
-In [[NetHack 3.4.3]] and previous versions, including some variants based on them, a hero can polymorph themself into a [[green slime]] and turn Death and the Riders to slime, since the sliming touch attack is not considered magical - similarly, a substantial herd of tamed green slimes stands some chance of turning a Rider into a slime, although this is only somewhat less risky; in either case, the resulting green slime can then be tamed. Additionally, a hostile [[gelatinous cube]] can engulf Rider corpses without trying to digest them, allowing the hero to steal them from the cube's inventory using a [[nymph]] polyself: a hero that can lift 1450 units of [[weight]] can use several methods to dispose of the stolen corpse permanently, such as placing it in a cursed [[bag of holding]] and then repeatedly [[loot]]ing it without using up any further turns. In these versions, it is also possible to [[Farming#Death farming|farm Death]] for exotic drops and billions of points.
+In [[NetHack 3.4.3]] and previous versions, including some variants based on them, a hero can polymorph themself into a [[green slime]] and turn Death and the Riders to slime, since the sliming touch attack is not considered magical - similarly, a substantial herd of tamed green slimes stands some chance of turning a Rider into a slime, although this is only somewhat less risky; in either case, the resulting green slime can then be tamed. Additionally, a hostile [[gelatinous cube]] can engulf Rider corpses without trying to digest them, allowing the hero to steal them from the cube's inventory using a [[Nymph (monster class)|nymphs]] polyself: a hero that can lift 1450 units of [[weight]] can use several methods to dispose of the stolen corpse permanently, such as placing it in a cursed [[bag of holding]] on the floor and then repeatedly [[loot]]ing it without using up any further turns. In these versions, it is also possible to [[Farming#Death farming|farm Death]] for exotic drops and billions of points.
 [[NetHack 3.6.0]] makes Death and the Riders immune to sliming and polymorph, prevents gelatinous cubes from engulfing their corpses, and grants the Riders their ability to displace other monsters.