Piercer
Piercers are a monster class represented by p. They hide in the ceiling, surprising your character by falling on you just as you pass beneath. The fall itself can deal 4d6 damage, but wearing any metallic helmet will fully protect you, the blow glancing off it. After falling or otherwise being discovered, piercers may still attack but are extremely slow.
In order of increasing toughness, there are rock piercers, iron piercers, and glass piercers.
Contents
Rock piercer
p rock piercer 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 4 |
| Attacks |
Bite 2d6 |
| Base level | 3 |
| Base experience | 28 |
| Speed | 1 |
| Base AC | 3 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 4 (Uncommon) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 200 |
| Nutritional value | 200 |
| Size | Small |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
A rock piercer:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line722 |
Iron piercer
p iron piercer 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 6 |
| Attacks |
Bite 3d6 |
| Base level | 5 |
| Base experience | 63 |
| Speed | 1 |
| Base AC | 0 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 2 (Quite rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 400 |
| Nutritional value | 300 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
An iron piercer:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line729 |
Glass piercer
p glass piercer 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 9 |
| Attacks |
Bite 4d6 |
| Base level | 7 |
| Base experience | 106 |
| Speed | 1 |
| Base AC | 0 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 400 |
| Nutritional value | 300 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | Acid |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
A glass piercer:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line736 |
dNethack: heaven piercer
p heaven piercer 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 20 |
| Attacks |
Bite 4d6 stunning |
| Base level | 18 |
| Base experience | 508 |
| Speed | 8 |
| Base AC | 0 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 3 (Rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 400 |
| Nutritional value | 300 |
| Size | medium |
| Resistances | fire, cold, acid |
| Resistances conveyed | fire |
|
A heaven piercer:
| |
A somewhat higher-damage piercer found in gehennom.
Origin
Yet other Dungeons and Dragons monsters.
Piercers resembles a stalactite, only with eyes in the sides. The Piercer is actually a giant gastropod of which the "stalactite" part is its shell.
They are attached on the ceiling, pretending to be a stalactite. When a prey comes beneath them, they fall to impale it.
They merely resemble the respective materials; they leave ordinary meaty corpses, and iron piercers do not rust (although glass piercers are acid-resistant).
Encyclopedia entry
Ye Piercer doth look like unto a stalactyte, and hangeth
from the roofs of caves and caverns. Unto the height of a
man, and thicker than a man's thigh do they grow, and in
groups do they hang. If a creature doth pass beneath them,
they will by its heat and noise perceive it, and fall upon
it to kill and devour it, though in any other way they move
but exceeding slow.
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