User:Flag On The Moon/Firefighter - Revision history

Flag On The Moon: Changed ranged options and gave more specific details on bonuses

2016-03-25T20:08:27Z

Changed ranged options and gave more specific details on bonuses

Flag On The Moon: Posting my notes

2016-03-01T03:07:27Z

Posting my notes

New page

Firefighters are search and rescue professionals who enter the dungeons
with expertise in navigating hazardous environments. Unfortunately, their
starting equipment provides more protection from accidents than from
intelligent foes.

This is a concept for a Firefighter role as a patch for NetHack 3.6.0. The Firefighter was one of nine roles added in the variant NetHack-- 3.0.10, but does not seem to have been used in any other variants until it was revived for Slash'EM Extended. I feel the firefighting profession has some features that would translate well into navigating the dangers of the Mazes of Menace, so this is my interpretation of what the Firefighter would look like as a role for vanilla.

==Introduction==
My concept for the Firefighter as a role emphasizes the firefighter's training in navigating dangerous environments for search and rescue purposes. Important themes:

* A strong melee combat style, adapted from the tools they use; they hack through enemies just as they hack through obstructions.
* Expertise at dealing with environmental hazards. Firefighters gain intrinsic speed. They excel at disarming traps and can chop through doors faster than other roles; they are also more likely to succeed in helping monsters out of traps. They can reach some proficiency in matter and escape spells.
* Alertness to threats from their surroundings. Firefighters gain intrinsic searching and can reach skilled in divination spells.
* A special proficiency against fire. Firefighters start with intrinsic fire resistance and get a +2 to-hit bonus against monsters that are on fire (flaming spheres, fire vortices, salamanders, fire elementals).

The Firefighter's gameplay niche can be summarized as "hazard specialist". As melee fighters with a specific elemental immunity, Firefighters resemble Valkyries, but their way of interacting with their environment makes them similar to Archeologists.

Firefighters can be lawful or neutral, and can be humans, dwarves, or gnomes.

==Abilities==
* Expert: Axe, Quarterstaff, Spear, Flail
* Skilled: Two-handed Sword, Trident, Polearms, Unicorn Horn, Knife, Pick-axe, Hammer; Attack, Divination, Escape spells; Two-handed combat and Bare hands
* Basic: Whip, Long sword, Saber, Crossbow; Matter spells; Riding

Firefighters are a melee role, and their weapon selection emphasizes weapons that are tools or can be used analogous to tools. They excel at axes and reach a respectable Skilled level with pick-axes, and they are unrestricted in all two-handed weapons, as well as the useful long sword and saber. Their ranged options are very limited: they are only unrestricted in spear and knife (which can be thrown) and crossbow (presumably because it has a trigger similar to a fire hose's). They reach expert in flail so they can use grappling hooks. They can also reach Basic in whips, nominally so they can use rubber hoses.

Firefighters have modest spellcasting abilities; they can reach Skilled in attack, divination, and escape magic, and Basic in matter.

==Starting equipment==
The Firefighter starts with the following items:

* +1 axe
* +0 rustproof helmet
* +0 fireproof leather cloak
* +0 iron boots
* 5 uncursed potions of water
* Wand of fire
* +0 grappling hook

This is adapted from the SLASHTHEM starting package. The original NetHack-- Firefighter had an axe, potions of water, a wand of fire, and scrolls of fire. SLASHTHEM added a fire helmet (from SLASH) and cloak of quenching (from Slash'EM Extended), each of which grants fire resistance. I replaced these with an ordinary (but erodeproof) helmet and cloak, because this version of the role is intended for regular NetHack and I do not feel that it is necessary to add either item as part of the patch, and because the fire resistance would have been redundant with the role's starting intrinsic resistance. I also added iron boots, as part of the occupational safety gear.

The axe was given a small enchantment to make it a slightly better weapon in the very early game. I removed the scrolls of fire but not the wand of fire, because that can be justified as a way to make firebreaks. (Nevertheless, Firefighters start off able to recognize scrolls of fire, so they shouldn't have to identify them by read-testing, unless they suffer memory loss.) Finally, I added a grappling hook as a utility item that the Firefighter can use to aid escaping from traps, or to snatch items from tiles they don't want to enter.

The helmet, cloak, and iron boots give the Firefighter a starting AC of 6. Body armor should be picked up as soon as possible.

The Firefighter's starting pet is a little dog with the default name of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hundred_and_One_Dalmatians Pongo]. (In the modern day dalmatians don't make very good service dogs, because they tend to suffer from deafness. But they look good as mascots.)

Firefighters on the Astral Plane have traded in their starting axe for a well-enchanted battle-axe (50%).

==Stats==
The Firefighter starts with a base HP of 13, with a racial bonus of +2 for humans, +4 for dwarves, +1 for gnomes, and a base power of 1, with a racial bonus of +2 for gnomes and +1 for humans. Firefighters gain +d8 HP each time they level up until level 10, then afterward gain +1 per level. There is no cutoff level for energy gain; the Firefighter's role modifier is always +1 (as for an Archeologist).

There is no spell failure bonus for emergency spells, a +2 penalty for wearing a shield, and a +9 penalty for wearing metallic body armor. The Firefighter's spellcasting attribute is intelligence, and special spell is teleport away.

Firefighters have the following base attributes:

* Str: 13 (30%)
* Int: 7 (10%)
* Wis: 7 (10%)
* Dex: 8 (20%)
* Con: 10 (20%)
* Cha: 10 (10%)

This leaves 20 attribute points to be assigned. Typical starting attributes are 18/01 / 9 / 9 / 12 / 14 / 12.
A Firefighter with these attributes will start with a carrying capacity of 875.

==Intrinsics==
Firefighters gain the following intrinsics upon reaching the specified experience levels:
* XL 1: Fire resistance
* XL 7: Speed
* XL 10: Searching

==Unique bonuses==
* Firefighters get a bonus to disarming traps and helping monsters out of traps. Untrapping a monster is more likely to make it peaceful and give an alignment bonus. This is especially helpful since Firefighters have a starting alignment record of zero.
* Firefighters can break down doors more quickly than other roles, as long as they are using an axe.
* Firefighters get a small to-hit bonus versus monsters that like fire: fire vortices, flaming spheres, salamanders, fire elementals.

==Rank titles==
The status line shows you to be one of the following ranks when you reach the specified experience level:

* XL 1-2: Water Boy/Girl
* XL 3-5: Fire Cadet
* XL 6-9: Pumper
* XL 10-13: Extinguisher
* XL 14-17: Smoke-eater
* XL 18-21: Fire Captain
* XL 22-25: Platoon Chief
* XL 26-29: Division Commander
* XL 30: Fire Chief

These are the rank titles used in SLASHTHEM, with some modifications.

==Pantheon==
The pantheon for this version of the Firefighter role is taken from Pacific Northwest mythology, the folklore of the First Peoples living along the Pacific coast of the US and Canada.

* Lawful: Kanigyilak
* Neutral: Omeatl
* Chaotic: Tleselagyila

''Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Kuste Amerikas'' (''Indian Myths & Legends from the North Pacific Coast of America'') by Franz Boas (1858-1942) was used as a reference. These are influential beings that appear in the myths of multiple cultures under different names, but I use the Kwak'wala language names (spoken by the Kwakwaka'wakw or "Kwakiutl") as representative examples.

'''K'anigyilak''' (also spelled: Q!a'neqe lak):
While Raven is essentially a shaper of the world, the Wanderer
in the south appears distinctly as cultural deity and, in
addition, as creator of animals and strangely-formed rocks. [...]
But what gives the Wanderer legend its character in this area
is the strict division of the cultural deity and the trickster.
Neither Cikla of the Chinook, nor Qals of the Coast Selisch,
Kumsno'otl of the Comox, the two Wanderers of the Nutka, or
K'anigyilak of the Newettee perpetrates tricks in addition to
their cultural mission, as is done by Raven in northern British
Columbia[...] These tricks are not absent by any means, but have
been transferred to different animals or other beings: to Bluejay
with the Chinook; to Mink and Raven with the Coast Selisch,
Comox and Newettee; to Kwotiath, Mink and Raven with the Nutka.
[ The Development of the Mythologies of the
North Pacific Coast Indians, by Franz Boas,
translated by Dietrich Bertz ]

'''O'meatl'''
In those days it was still dark on earth. So O'meatl [Raven]
decided to steal the sun. To this end, he hid in a piece of
driftwood and let himself be carried to the land of Na'lanuk
(= Owner of Daylight), who kept the daylight. When Na'lanuk
saw the wood drift onto the beach, he said to his daughter,
"Please go and bring the wood up to the house." [...]
The woman carried him about in her arms, and already that night
he was able to speak. The boy wanted to play with the sun box
and take it for a ride in a canoe. He kept crying until at
last his grandfather gave him permission. Then he was glad.
The canoe was tied to a peg, so he now made it rock until the
water ran in, then he cut the rope which tied it to the land.
He dipped his paddle three times into the water and thereupon
the canoe went far away. Then he called, "Don't you know me?
I am O'meatl." So Na'lanuk warned him, "Don't open the chest.
You know that it contains Daylight." But O'meatl had scarcely
reached home when he opened the box and released Daylight.
[Indian Myths & Legends from the North Pacific Coast
of America, "Legends of the Tlatlasikwala",
recorded by Franz Boas, translated by Dietrich Bertz]

'''Tle'selagyila'''
Thereupon they said, "You have no father," in order to
insult him. At this, Tle'selagyila (= Sunmaker), Mink,
became sad and ran weeping to his mother to ask her whether
it was true that he had no father. She consoled her son
and said, "Just let them shout; your father is in the sky.
His name is Toatusela'kilis and he causes the sun to shine."
So Mink resolved to visit him. [...] In the evening, when it
grew dark, his father came home, and the woman said to him,
"Your son has come and wants to stay with you. Let him lead
the sun now in your place." Toatusela'kilis was very glad
and awakened his son early in the morning. He gave his
clothing to him and told him to rise slowly behind the
mountains and warned him not to walk too quickly because then
everything would burn up. Mink took his father's clothing
and climbed up slowly as he had been told. But when it was
almost noon, he became more impatient, began to run and thus
set the whole world on fire. [...] But the woman in the sky
called her husband and told him to throw Tle'selagyila down to
the earth before he burned everything. Toatusela'kilis
hurried up, tore off Mink's clothes and threw him down to the
earth, saying, "If you had gone properly you could have led
the sun for all time."
[Indian Myths & Legends from the North Pacific Coast
of America, "Legends of the Oowekeeno", recorded by
Franz Boas, translated by Dietrich Bertz]

==Role overview==
===Advantages===
* Intrinsic fire resistance
* Good starting strength, fair charisma (Firefighters need to inspire confidence)
* Starting axe (for breaking down doors), grappling hook (for retrieving items), and hard hat (for protection from falling rocks)
* Erodeproof starting armor
* Superior trap disarming and door-breaking skills
* Unrestricted access to useful weapon skills like long sword, saber, two-handed sword, axe, making them able to use good lawful- and neutral-aligned artifacts
* Unrestricted two-weapon combat
* Guaranteed Frost Brand, one of the most popular weapons for Gehennom, as first sacrifice gift
* Can recognize scrolls of fire and mundane helmets from the start of the game
* Starting potions of water can be blessed at the first coaligned or converted altar they find

===Disadvantages===
* Weak starting weapon
* Poor starting AC
* Limited ranged abilities
* Start with alignment record of zero

===Racial and alignment considerations===
* Dwarves can eat and sacrifice human corpses and use genocide without a penalty, but suffer from dwarves' usual penalties to spellcasting.
* Gnomes can better use Firefighters' spellcasting options, but have lower hit points.
* Lawful Firefighters can use good weapons like Excalibur, Grayswandir (basic), and the Tsurugi of Muramasa (skilled).
* Neutral Firefighters can use Cleaver (expert) without getting blasted and get Vorpal Blade (basic) as their crowning gift.

==Other ideas==
These are other ideas that may not apply or be in the spirit of vanilla NetHack, but I thought I'd list them anyway.

* Firefighters gain intrinsic infravision, regardless of their starting race. This enables them to spot burning creatures from a distance. Alternately, infravision is a property of their quest artifact.
* Dwarven Firefighters start with one of their race's [[dwarvish iron helm|mining helmets]], giving them an extra point of AC.
* In SLASH'EM, where fire traps can be disarmed, Firefighters are able to do so with 100% success.

@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 ==Abilities==
 * Expert: Axe, Quarterstaff, Spear, Flail
-* Skilled: Two-handed Sword, Trident, Polearms, Unicorn Horn, Knife, Pick-axe, Hammer; Attack, Divination, Escape spells; Two-handed combat and Bare hands
+* Skilled: Two-handed Sword, Trident, Polearms, Unicorn Horn, Knife, Pick-axe, Hammer; Attack, Divination, Escape spells; Two-weapon combat and Bare hands
-* Basic: Whip, Long sword, Saber, Crossbow; Matter spells; Riding
+* Basic: Whip, Long sword, Saber, Bow, Dart; Matter spells; Riding
-Firefighters are a melee role, and their weapon selection emphasizes weapons that are tools or can be used analogous to tools.  They excel at axes and reach a respectable Skilled level with pick-axes, and they are unrestricted in all two-handed weapons, as well as the useful long sword and saber.  Their ranged options are very limited: they are only unrestricted in spear and knife (which can be thrown) and crossbow (presumably because it has a trigger similar to a fire hose's).  They reach expert in flail so they can use grappling hooks.  They can also reach Basic in whips, nominally so they can use rubber hoses.
+Firefighters are a melee role, and their weapon selection emphasizes weapons that are tools or can be used analogous to tools.  They excel at axes and reach a respectable Skilled level with pick-axes, and they are unrestricted in all two-handed weapons, as well as the useful long sword and saber.  Their ranged options are very limited: they are unrestricted in dart, spear, knife (which can be thrown), and their only unrestricted launcher is the bow.  (This increases their benefit from disarming dart and arrow traps.)  They reach expert in flail so they can use grappling hooks.  They can also reach Basic in whips, nominally so they can use rubber hoses.
 Firefighters have modest spellcasting abilities; they can reach Skilled in attack, divination, and escape magic, and Basic in matter.
@@ Line 72: / Line 72: @@
 ==Unique bonuses==
-* Firefighters get a bonus to disarming traps and helping monsters out of traps.  Untrapping a monster is more likely to make it peaceful and give an alignment bonus.  This is especially helpful since Firefighters have a starting alignment record of zero.
+* Firefighters get a bonus to disarming traps and helping monsters out of traps.  For them, the probability of freeing a monster from a trap is determined by [[rnl]](4) instead of rnl(5).  They can get an alignment bonus for it even if they are not lawfully aligned, and are three times more likely to get the bonus than other roles (they bypass the usual ![[rn2]](3) roll{{refsrc|src/trap.c|3913|version=NetHack 3.6.0}}).  This is especially helpful since Firefighters have a starting alignment record of zero.
-* Firefighters can break down doors more quickly than other roles, as long as they are using an axe.
+* Firefighters can break down doors twice as quickly as other roles.  This is not cumulative with the racial bonus to digging speed for dwarves.
 * Firefighters get a small to-hit bonus versus monsters that like fire: fire vortices, flaming spheres, salamanders, fire elementals.
@@ Line 176: / Line 176: @@
 * Unrestricted access to useful weapon skills like long sword, saber, two-handed sword, axe, making them able to use good lawful- and neutral-aligned artifacts
 * Unrestricted two-weapon combat
 * Can recognize scrolls of fire and mundane helmets from the start of the game
 * Starting potions of water can be blessed at the first coaligned or converted altar they find
@@ Line 196: / Line 195: @@
 * Firefighters gain intrinsic infravision, regardless of their starting race. This enables them to spot burning creatures from a distance. Alternately, infravision is a property of their quest artifact.
 * Dwarven Firefighters start with one of their race's [[dwarvish iron helm|mining helmets]], giving them an extra point of AC.
 * In SLASH'EM, where fire traps can be disarmed, Firefighters are able to do so with 100% success.