Call
- For calling an object (class), see name.
To call (or name) a monster, press shift + c. This will change most messages regarding that monster to use only the monster's name (i.e. "Bob hits!", rather than "The goblin hits!"). Looking at a called monster will describe it as "A <monster> called <name>", revealing what type of monster it is. While calling is most common for pets, it is actually possible to do so with most monsters in the game.
Petrifying or killing a called monster will leave a statue or corpse with that name. Conversely, casting stone to flesh on a named statue (e.g. Perseus), or reviving the corpse, will produce a monster called by that name.
When prompted to enter a name for a monster, simply pressing enter without giving a name will cancel the calling attempt, but entering a name consisting only of blank spaces will "clear" its name.
These are a few reasons to name a monster:
- Roleplay (renaming your pet)
- Reminders (naming a monster you know is permanently blind, etc.)
- Allows you to differentiate same-race monsters in a group (to find out which one is carrying the wand of fire, etc.)
- In 3.4.3 and some derived variants, allows you to abuse the Astral call bug (though this is fixed in most variants and on nethack.alt.org)
- When trying to tame a magic-resistant monster like a master mind flayer, you might get large quantities of pets - name these so you don't accidentally sacrifice one.
- Leave a funny death message, such as "Killed by a soldier ant called Go Team Ants" or "Killed by a goblin called Bob (with the Amulet)"
- Liven up the dungeon a bit with some strange messages, such as "You miss going outside" or "'You are an extremely poor conversationalist', the gnome grunts."
- Let the MSGTYPE option filter away pet battle messages.
Limitations
- Unique monsters will resist the naming attempt (this was the basis of the Astral call bug).[1]
- Prior to NetHack 3.6.1, this could be worked around by petrifying the unique monster, naming the statue, and un-petrifying it. Amusingly, the monster will still resist further attempts at calling it, including attempts to remove its new name. This was fixed in commit 9b4d5239, which prevented revived unique monsters from taking the player-assigned name of their statue or corpse.
- Monsters whose names display as something other than their base type – notably, shopkeepers, aligned priests and minions – cannot usefully be called anything different: messages regarding them will not change if you try. However, petrifying them will still produce a statue with your chosen name.
External links
References
