Major demon

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Major demons are a type of monster that appear in NetHack. These "true" demons are defined by the M2_DEMON flag, which is in turn used by other code such as the is_demon function.

List of demons

The following monsters are considered demons:

Common traits

All demons are part of the demon monster class - the lawful demons are generally referred to as devils.

Demons and devils possess fire resistance, poison resistance, drain resistance, and death resistance (although they are still considered living creatures). They are vulnerable to silver, and take an extra d20 damage when struck with a silver weapon - they also take an extra d4 damage from blessed weapons. Non-unique demons and devils cannot be tamed unless the player character is one as well.

Demon lords and princes are powerful unique monsters that inhabit Gehennom - a character will encounter some of their lairs while traversing Gehennom, and some others can only be encountered if they are summoned.

Generation

Major demons are always generated hostile, and are mostly found in Gehennom with the exception of quest nemeses, though they can be summoned in the main dungeon through the various means described below:

Non-unique major demons that are generated at level creation have a 4⁄5 chance of being created asleep unless you possess the Amulet of Yendor, in which case they will always be awake.[1]

Demon summoning

Hostile demons are generated if you anger Moloch or a chaotic deity, e.g. by converting or destroying their altars, or else by praying to a chaotic god with negative alignment.

Sacrificing your own race can summon a major demon or a demon lord (but not a demon prince), as can angering a chaotic god when on an altar (by praying with negative alignment, converting a chaotic altar, or a few other actions).

Demons summoning demons

Major demons, demon lords and demon princes have a 1⁄13 chance of summoning or "gating in" another demon each time that demon acts when adjacent to you (or your displaced image, in the case of displacement)[2] - major demons can summon other major demons and demon lords, while demon lords and princes can summon other demon rulers alongside major demons. Demon quest nemeses can summon other major demons, but cannot be summoned this way; foocubi and balrogs cannot summon demons, but can be gated in by other demons.

Demon gating will always generate co-aligned demons, e.g. mariliths can gate in other chaotic demons and demon lords - as there are no lawful demon lords, lawful major demons will only summon other major demons, because there are no lawful demon lords. The Wizard of Yendor summoning nasties is an exception, as is any use of the spell in Gehennom (which is treated as though the Wizard cast it), and can create demons of any alignment.[3]

The difference between major demons, demon lords, and demon princes lies in which other demons they can summon, and how often: all demons can summon other major demons, and are capable of summoning stronger demons as well. Major demons and demon lords have a 1⁄20 chance of summoning a co-aligned demon lord, while demon lords have a 1⁄20 chance of summoning another co-aligned demon lord, and a 1⁄50 chance of summoning a demon prince. Demon princes and the Wizard of Yendor have a 1⁄20 chance of summoning a co-aligned demon prince, and a 1⁄4 chance of summoning a co-aligned demon lord if a prince is not summoned. Major demons that summon other major demons will choose their own type 5⁄6 of the time, and otherwise choose a random type.[4] Demon lords and princes that summon a major demon have a 1⁄4 chance of summoning two demons of that type.[5][6] Demonbane completely blocks all forms of demon gating while wielded.[7]

The following table shows the chance of a given demon gating in another demon of a specific rank:

Summoner Summoned demon
Major demon Demon lord Demon prince
Major demons
(except foocubi and balrogs) 		95% 5% 0%
Demon lords
Juiblex, Yeenoghu 		93.1% 4.9% 2%
Demon princes
Asmodeus, Baalzebub, Dispater,
Geryon, Demogorgon, Orcus 		71.75% 23.75% 5%

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 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.

Bone devils summon skeletons instead of other demons, and can still be summoned by other demons.

Summoning while polymorphed

If you are polymorphed into a major demon that can summon, each unarmed attack you perform on a monster has a 1⁄13 chance of summoning a tame, non-unique major demon to your side.[8] As with hostile major demons, the demons that you summon will be of the same type as your current form 5⁄6 of the time, and will otherwise be a random demon of the same alignment.

Strategy

The major demons are decently strong opponents, and an otherwise-prepared character entering the Valley of the Dead and Gehennom proper should ensure they have a means of consistently dealing with them. The demon lords and princes in particular are all the more threatening to various degrees, which is compounded by their covetous behavior and the inability to teleport on their levels.

If you are trying to summon Demogorgon (e.g. to fight for bragging rights) or else avoid him, Orcus is the most likely demon to summon him - the chances of Demogorgon being summoned per turn is 113 × 5100 = 1260 per turn. Your chance of having summoned Demogorgon after n turns is then:

Number of turns n Chance of Demogorgon
1 0.38%
50 17.5%
100 32.0%
200 53.7%
500 85.4%
1000 97.9%

For those who do not wish to weather Orcus's spells and wand of death, the next most likely demon ruler to summon Demogorgon is Yeenoghu, though he is slower and cannot haste himself without a wand of speed monster or a potion of speed.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 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.

Per commit d86b7e8e, the presence of a demon lord or prince on a Gehennom level will block regular teleportation.

Orcus will not use his wand of death if he sees that you resist its effects.

Messages

<The demon> appears in a cloud of smoke!
A hostile demon was summoned by another hostile demon.
Some hell-p has arrived!
You summoned a tame demon while in the form of a demon.

Variants

Some variants use M2_DEMON for demonic or devilish beings that exist outside of the demon monster class.

SLASH'EM

SLASH'EM introduces the following major demons:

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, a shambling horror can be defined as a demon in certain games, allowing them to appear via demon gating and gate other demons themselves.

Angels and demons attack each other on sight, as part of Nephi's grudge patch.

dNetHack

dNetHack and notdNetHack define demons using the MA_DEMON flag, which applies to "minor" and major demons alike.

A character can summon demons and devils using the #monster extended command instead of the summoning occurring randomly during their melee attacks.

SpliceHack

Main article: Infernal (starting race)

In SpliceHack, the infernal is a playable demonic race.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, demons are defined using the MH_DEMON flag.

Demon gating rules are changed from NetHack:

  • Demon lords have a 4.9% chance of gating in another demon lord, and will otherwise gate in a regular demon - once the player has entered the third tier demon prince lair, demon lords have a 2% chance of gating in a demon prince.
  • Demon princes (including Lucifer) and the Wizard of Yendor have a 23.75% chance of gating in a demon lord, and will otherwise gate in one or two regular demons - once the player has entered the third tier demon prince lair, demon princes have a 5% chance of gating in another demon prince.
  • Although Lucifer is a demon prince, he cannot be gated by any means, as he is meant to be encountered in the Sanctum.

The Idol of Moloch is an artifact figurine of a horned devil and the Infidel quest artifact: It can be applied like a normal figurine to summon a random major demon, including a horned devil, without using up the artifact. Unaligned Infidels that are crowned will become demons themselves, with many of the same standard powers and weaknesses.

References

  1. ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1318
  2. ↑ src/mhitu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 590
  3. ↑ src/minion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 78
  4. ↑ src/minion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 89
  5. ↑ src/minion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 82
  6. ↑ src/minion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 87
  7. ↑ src/minion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 62
  8. ↑ src in NetHack 3.6.7, line uhitm.c: demonpet function
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