Black dragon
D black dragon 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 20 |
| Attacks |
Breath 1d255 disintegration, bite 3d8, claw 1d4, claw 1d4 |
| Base level | 15 |
| Base experience | 460 |
| Speed | 9 |
| Base AC | -1 |
| Base MR | 20 |
| Alignment | -6 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 4500 |
| Nutritional value | 1500 |
| Size | Gigantic |
| Resistances | Disintegration |
| Resistances conveyed | Disintegration resistance (100%) |
|
A black dragon:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line1161 |
A black dragon, D, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is an adult dragon associated with disintegration. Like all dragons, black dragons are strong, carnivorous, oviparous, thick-skinned, can see invisible, and are capable of flight - they will also seek out gold, gems and magical items to pick up.
Black dragons have a disintegrating breath weapon, a strong bite attack, and two claw attacks, and possess disintegration resistance.
Eating a black dragon corpse or tin always grants disintegration resistance.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (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.
Black dragons and other dragons gain the additional extrinsic effects conferred by their scales.Contents
Generation
Randomly generated black dragons are always created hostile. A baby black dragon can grow up into a black dragon.
Hostile black dragons can be generated by the summon nasties monster spell. Characters and monsters that polymorph while wearing black dragon scales or black dragon scale mail will turn into black dragons.
Black dragons may appear among the hostile D generated in throne rooms at dungeon levels 15 and below, and can also appear among the monsters randomly generated by looting a throne while confused and carrying gold (provided there is no chest on the level).[1]
Black dragons have a 1⁄3 chance of dropping a set of uncursed +0 black dragon scales upon death unless disintegrated, and the chance is reduced to 1⁄20 if the dragon was revived.
Strategy
Taking on a black dragon is an especially perilous endeavor, as a character has very few options to protect against their breath weapon: in terms of obtainable properties, the primary recourse is either reflection or disintegration resistance, and the latter is most easily obtained by either eating black dragon meat or wearing its scales. If not reflected or resisted, the disintegration breath affects the target's armor in the order of priority listed below:[2][3]
- Any worn shield.
- Any worn body armor, including cloaks.
- A worn amulet of life saving; this only applies in corner cases where a living monster wearing an amulet has been polymorphed into a form the amulet would not work on, Otherwise, the ray destroys their cloak and shirt if applicable, and the amulet functions as normal.
- The victim in question.
This makes the black dragon incredibly dangerous to engage while within its line-of-fire, especially in hallways and unlit areas such as Fort Ludios, and the rebound can still disintegrate targets if their gear saved them from a direct hit. For characters without reflection, significant care is required during combat: the breath weapon can be avoided either by trying to lure the dragon close, or else using (very) fast speed in order to close the gap while avoiding its line of fire as much as possible. Thankfully, black dragons lack any other resistances, and can be brought down with poison, wands or spells among other options.
Peculiarly, this often means that characters who survive the first few counters with black dragons (if not the very first) have a means of surviving disintegration for the rest of that game unless the property is lost, though even this comes with a few stipulations: the corpse is still a lot for even the hungriest character to wolf down without being interrupted or risking choking in the process, and resistant characters may still want to keep non-reflecting pets from being reduced to ash.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (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.
Black dragons gain drain resistance from their scales, which in theory represents a potential wrinkle for characters with Stormbringer as their main weapon - in practice, most such characters will have no shortage of offensive choices to use against one instead.
Black dragons also become more desirable hunting targets: monsters can gain intrinsics from corpses, and spare black dragon corpses can be used to give valuable pets a defense for future encounters with them. Black dragon scales are the only non-artifact source of drain resistance, which is valuable to many roles - for example, Healers with black dragon scale mail can prevent the Cyclops from repeatedly draining their experience levels with The Staff of Aesculapius.As a pet
Some characters may keep pet black dragons around as a means to cleave their way through groups of hostile monsters or else wipe out especially powerful single targets, though this typically means the loss of any non-artifact loot from them; artifacts resist disintegration 19⁄20 of the time.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (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.
Characters riding on black dragon steeds can use #monster to employ their disintegration breath, making them a slightly more attractive mount option.As a polymorph form
For characters not observing polyselfless conduct, a black dragon polymorph is often employed to evaporate particularly troublesome foes: Monks in particular may consider doing so against Master Kaen to eliminate him from outside his attack range, and Samurai can use the form to kill Ashikaga Takauji without risk of death by bisection. Disintegrating a quest nemesis will not destroy the quest artifact or the Bell of Opening.
History
The black dragon first appears in NetHack 2.3e - in this version, black dragon breath instakills the player, and there is no means of reflection, disintegration resistance, or amulet of life saving, and the temptation of genocide must be balanced with the fact that there is no means to genocide only black dragons; dragons of any color are a guaranteed source of fire resistance, which is absolutely necessary to enter Hell without immediately dying.
NetHack 3.0.0 introduces sources of reflection and tones down the black dragon's breath weapon slightly, and it also becomes possible to genocide black dragons without wiping out any other species, though the addition of other fire resistance sources renders this somewhat moot. From this version to NetHack 3.0.10, including variants based on those versions, including variants based on those versions, polymorphing a black dragon corpse produces regular dragon scale mail. NetHack 3.1.0 introduces sources of disintegration resistance in the black dragon's scales and scale mail.
Variants
Many variants alter the black dragon and other dragons to make them more varied and/or threatening.
SLASH'EM
As with all other dragons in SLASH'EM, baby black dragons have a base level of 4 instead of 12, and can be encountered via random generation in ordinary levels with a frequency of 2; they are also eligible for creation on many levels that generate random D on level creation. Adult black dragons have a base level of 18 instead of 15.
Baby black dragons hit as a +1 weapon, and adult black dragons hit as a +3 weapon. Adult black dragons have a chance of turning traitor while tame.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, all dragons have their breaths, resistances, and colors randomized, allowing any non-chromatic dragon to appear as black.
Encyclopedia entry
In the West the dragon was the natural enemy of man. Although preferring to live in bleak and desolate regions, whenever it was seen among men it left in its wake a trail of destruction and disease. Yet any attempt to slay this beast was a perilous undertaking. For the dragon's assailant had to contend not only with clouds of sulphurous fumes pouring from its fire breathing nostrils, but also with the thrashings of its tail, the most deadly part of its serpent-like body.
"One whom the dragons will speak with," he said, "that is a dragonlord, or at least that is the center of the matter. It's not a trick of mastering the dragons, as most people think. Dragons have no masters. The question is always the same, with a dragon: will he talk to you or will he eat you? If you can count upon his doing the former, and not doing the latter, why then you're a dragonlord."
References
- ↑ src/mkroom.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 741
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 3678: default case for
ZT_DEATHis used for disintegration breath - ↑ zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 3820
