Umber hulk (monster class)
The umber hulk is a monster class in NetHack represented by an uppercase U glyph (U). Umber hulks are designated internally by the macro S_UMBER.[1]
The umber hulk is the only member of the monster class.[2]
Contents
History
The umber hulk first appears in Hack for PDP-11, a variant of Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the initial bestiary for Hack 1.0.
Variants
Some variants opt to further populate the umber hulk monster class, and may even repurpose it to add existing monsters. The biodiversity patch contains the umbral hulk and hunger hulk, variants of the umber hulk with gaze attacks that can blind you or drain your nutrition, respectively.
The shambling horror is a monster with randomized stats and traits that appears in many variants, and is usually a part of the umber hulk monster class or its equivalent.
SLASH'EM
SLASH'EM adds the water hulk, a type of hulk that has the same attack dice, but can also swim and is only found in Gehennom.
SporkHack
SporkHack is the first variant to include the shambling horror.
UnNetHack
UnNetHack adds the shambling horror to the monster class.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, this monster class is replaced by the unknown abomination, which uses the same glyph and includes the umber hulk as part of the monster class.
xNetHack
In xNetHack, this monster class is replaced by the aberration, which uses the same glyph and includes the umber hulk as part of the monster class.
SpliceHack
SpliceHack and SpliceHack-Rewrite add the umbral hulk, hunger hulk and shambling horror; SpliceHack also introduces the slumber hulk, whose gaze attack can cause targets to fall asleep - amusingly, it will also randomly stop and fall asleep on its own.
EvilHack
EvilHack adds the shambling horror to the monster class.
SlashTHEM
In addition to the water hulk, SlashTHEM incorporates the biodiversity patch, including the umbral and hunger hulk. SlashTHEM also has the terror hall special room, which is populated by various hulks.
Hack'EM
Hack'EM includes the shambling horror, umbral hulk and hunger hulk, along with the water hulk from SLASH'EM and the slumber hulk from SpliceHack.