Killer bee
a killer bee 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 5 |
| Attacks |
Sting 1d3 poison |
| Base level | 1 |
| Base experience | 19 |
| Speed | 18 |
| Base AC | -1 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Rare |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 1 |
| Nutritional value | 5 |
| Size | Tiny |
| Resistances | Poison |
| Resistances conveyed | Poison (30%) |
|
A killer bee: | |
| Reference | monst.c#line104 |
A killer bee is a monster which is usually generated in large groups. They tend to be faster than you, so they can get more than one sting in each turn. Sometimes their sting is poisoned, which can kill you if you are not resistant.
Strategy
Killer bees are fast, but weak. A medium-level character with a good chance to hit can often finish them off in one hit. This works best if you fight them in corridors where only one can sting you at a time. For low-level, slow, burdened or non-poison-resistant characters, discretion is the better part of valor. Have an escape route handy if you find yourself suddenly surrounded by these little nasties. Elbereth can offer some breathing room.
Although killer bee corpses are poisonous, they offer a high chance (30%) of granting poison resistance, which you might like to take advantage of if you have a temporary source of poison resistance like an amulet versus poison or a ring of poison resistance.
Encyclopedia entry
This giant variety of its useful normal cousin normally appears in small groups, looking for raw material to produce the royal jelly needed to feed their queen. On rare occasions, one may stumble upon a bee-hive, in which the queen bee is being well provided for, and guarded against intruders.
