Chris: /* Per-letter oddities */

2018-09-22T21:51:06Z

‎Per-letter oddities

Chris: Mumak damage/level is also weird.

2018-09-22T21:40:51Z

Mumak damage/level is also weird.

Chris: These are oddities in monster design that I came across during the great reflagging, with new additions likely as I try to rebalance in the wake of the DR/AC split.

2018-09-22T18:30:24Z

These are oddities in monster design that I came across during the great reflagging, with new additions likely as I try to rebalance in the wake of the DR/AC split.

New page

==Monster Oddities==
A while ago, I carried out the "great reflagging" in dNethack, which required me to examine each creature individually and sort its tags into the new categories. This close scrutiny revealed a number of oddities, which in some cases may be purposeful, but in other cases may be oversights.

==Per-letter oddities==
*a
**Note many weights seem wrong here, see below.
*b
*c
*d
*e
**spheres have eyes despite being balls of explosive energy.
**Cold spheres and vortexes are infravisible. Do they stand out dark against the background? Should other cold creatures also have this?
*f
**Why is a jaguar weaker than a lynx?
**Why are jaguars and panthers weaker than large domestic cats?
**Why do lynx have a 1d10 bite attack?
*g
*h
*i
**Homunculi are not listed as being humanoid when they probably should be,
**imps and quasits can't fly, even though they are based on the D&D creatures which can,
**Homunculi CAN fly, the D&D version also can but I think that is a D&Dism
*j
*k
*l
*m
*n
*o
*p
*q
*r
**Rats are flaged as carnivores?
*s
*t
*u
*v
**Cold spheres and vortexes are infravisible. Do they stand out dark against the background? Should other cold creatures also have this?
**Energy vortexes are not infravisible?
*w
*x
*y
*z
*A
**Couatls are marked as infravisible. They are feathered serpents, maybe they should be cold blooded?
*B
**Bats are listed as carnivores, except for vampire bats which are listed as omnivores
***Note: While this is probably true for real vampire bats, nethack vampire bats are literal vampires
*C
*D
*E
*F
*G
*H
**Why are fire giants lawful, when Lord Surtur is strongly Chaotic?
*I
*J
*K
*L
*M
**Why are gnome mummies red and kobold mummies red?
*N
*O
*P
*Q
*R
*S
*T
*U
*V
*W
*X
*Y
*Z
**Ghouls are listed after giant zombies, despite being lower difficulty
*@
**Doppelgangers are M2_human?
**Medusa has MR_STON, but can be petrified by her own reflected gaze anyway?
**<ilbelkyr> in vanilla at least, abbot corpses are hallucinogenic
*&
**Horned devils have sting attacks instead of horn attacks?
***Tail is standard for D&D, but creature is incredibly weak if it's based on D&D
***Horned devils can't fly, while the D&D creature can fly
**vrocks (vulture demons) can't fly
**Several demon types aren't listed as HUMANOID, despite most demons probably qualifying.
*;
**jellyfish are slithy?
***and not mindless?
*:

===mhitu Oddities===
*Even fire resistant straw golems etc are burned up?
**And a non-fire-resistant polymorphed player with unchanging will not die from being burned up.
*Being covered in acid from an attack does not harm your armor
*Engulfed electrical attacks don't harm your stuff?
*Engulfed acid attack also doesn't harm armor
*Cold melee attacks don't trigger golem effects vs you?
**Ditto Fire
*Do players with AT_BOOM attacks actually boom?

===Weight and nutrition vs MZ_ size is off globally===
These are the worst offenders:
*giant beetles (which I believe were the size of a large horse, but which give less nutrition than a fortune cookie)
*gelatinous cubes
*dogs
*winter wolves
*large felines
*baby dragons
*nagas
*rust monsters vs disenchanters
*Ghosts weigh as much as humans?

===Flag definition-related===
*The various M3_ covetous-monster-behavior flags must fit within the STRAT_GOAL mask (0x000000ffL), but they are defined in different headers and there is no comment in either place noting the connection.

===Polymorph handling===
*Headless players can wear helms?

@@ Line 30: / Line 30: @@
 *q
 **mumak damage is *really high* for a 5th level monster.  Compare mumak (4d12) to titanothere (2d8).  Given the source material, it's probably the level that is wrong, not the damage.
 *r
 **Rats are flaged as carnivores?

@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 *p
 *q
 *r
 **Rats are flaged as carnivores?
@@ Line 115: / Line 116: @@
 ===Polymorph handling===
 *Headless players can wear helms?

User:Chris/monster oddities - Revision history

Chris: /* Per-letter oddities */

Chris: Mumak damage/level is also weird.

Chris: These are oddities in monster design that I came across during the great reflagging, with new additions likely as I try to rebalance in the wake of the DR/AC split.