Deva

The devas are a group of angelic beings added in SLASH'EM. They are all characterized by strong physical attacks, high speed, and clerical spellcasting, similar to aligned priests. They are most often encountered as minions, either given to lawful characters through prayer or sacrifice, or created when attempting to convert a lawful altar. As minions, they are quite powerful, and can be a useful source of shields of reflection or even artifact weapons (Sunsword and Demonbane), which they have a chance of starting with.

SLASH'EM

Movanic deva

A movanic deva
Difficulty	21
Attacks	Weapon fire 3d4, Weapon fire 3d4, Claw 3d4, Spellcasting (clerical) 2d6

A movanic deva
Difficulty	21
Attacks	Weapon fire 3d4, Weapon fire 3d4, Claw 3d4, Spellcasting (clerical) 2d6
Base level	12
Base experience	422
Speed	18
Base AC	−5
Base MR	90
Alignment	15 (lawful)
Frequency (by normal means)	1 (Very rare)
Genocidable	No
Weight	1450
Nutritional value	400
Size	Medium
Resistances	death magic
Resistances conveyed	None
A movanic deva: can fly. has a head, a couple of arms, and a torso. can see invisible creatures. does not eat. (*) is not a valid polymorphable form. can follow you to other levels. is nasty. is strong. has infravision. can be seen through infravision. does not appear in Gehennom. never leaves a corpse. requires a +1 weapon to hit.
Reference	SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line1945

The movanic deva is the weakest of the devas. It is still a formidable opponent, particularly if one lacks fire resistance, as its attacks will then burn you. It is able to cast clerical spells, including possibly curse items and summon insects.

Monadic deva

A monadic deva
Difficulty	23
Attacks	Weapon 3d4, Weapon 6d4, Spellcasting (clerical) 3d4

A monadic deva
Difficulty	23
Attacks	Weapon 3d4, Weapon 6d4, Spellcasting (clerical) 3d4
Base level	15
Base experience	531
Speed	18
Base AC	−4
Base MR	90
Alignment	15 (lawful)
Frequency (by normal means)	1 (Very rare)
Genocidable	No
Weight	1450
Nutritional value	400
Size	Medium
Resistances	death magic
Resistances conveyed	None
A monadic deva: can fly. has a head, a couple of arms, and a torso. can see invisible creatures. does not eat. (*) is not a valid polymorphable form. can follow you to other levels. is nasty. is strong. has infravision. can be seen through infravision. does not appear in Gehennom. never leaves a corpse. requires a +1 weapon to hit.
Reference	SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line1954

Monadic devas are slightly stronger than movanic devas, and are distinctive in that their physical attacks do only normal damage. Still, they are quite formidable opponents, similar in level to an Angel but much faster. They are also able to cast all clerical spells, including fire pillar (same effect as a scroll of fire) and geyser.

Astral deva

A astral deva
Difficulty	27
Attacks	Weapon 3d12, Weapon stun 1d4, Spellcasting (clerical) 3d4

A astral deva
Difficulty	27
Attacks	Weapon 3d12, Weapon stun 1d4, Spellcasting (clerical) 3d4
Base level	18
Base experience	676
Speed	18
Base AC	−6
Base MR	90
Alignment	15 (lawful)
Frequency (by normal means)	1 (Very rare)
Genocidable	No
Weight	1450
Nutritional value	400
Size	Medium
Resistances	death magic
Resistances conveyed	None
An astral deva: can fly. has a head, a couple of arms, and a torso. can see invisible creatures. does not eat. (*) is not a valid polymorphable form. can follow you to other levels. is nasty. is strong. has infravision. can be seen through infravision. does not appear in Gehennom. never leaves a corpse. requires a +1 weapon to hit.
Reference	SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line1962

The toughest of the devas, astral devas are almost equivalent to an Archon in difficulty. They do similar amounts of physical damage, and while the astral deva cannot stun and blind with its gaze, it can stun with its physical attacks. The astral deva is also slightly faster than the Archon, with a speed of 18 over the Archon's 16. They are almost the same base level (18 for the astral deva versus 19 for the Archon), and are both spellcasters. Luckily, the astral deva is unable to summon nasties, as it can only cast clerical spells, which summon nasties fortunately is not. It can, however, summon insects, which is somewhat dangerous given some of SLASH'EM's new insects, such as the assassin bug or killer beetle.

Strategy

The devas, with the Planetars and Solars, constitute one of the chief reasons that lawful alignment is very nice in SLASH'EM. Not only are these dangerous monsters always peaceful to you, but you have a very good chance of receiving a number of them as pets, both from altars and occasionally from praying while in trouble. Additionally, receiving them as minions from sacrificing does not increase your prayer timeout, and so does not even require that much time or nutrition.

If you are not lawful, these are all formidable opponents. It should be noted that, "in the wild", these monsters are all quite rarely seen, particularly since they cannot appear in Gehennom and are relatively high-level. However, one should think twice about converting lawful altars in SLASH'EM. It is better to convert altars at lower experience levels, since then easier couatls and Aleaxes will be created instead of devas. It is best, in fact, to convert altars below experience level 4, since then no minions will be created.

In combat, it is good to keep in mind that devas are not guaranteed a shield of reflection, unlike Archons, although they do have a reasonable chance of having one. They all resist death rays, but no other types of damage. Thus, attack wands work well against them, although their high MR of 90 means that wands of sleep, striking, and magic missile are likely to be ineffective. If they do have a shield of reflection, wands of draining and wands of fireball are good choices against them, since they resist neither and neither can be reflected. Stoning is also a good choice if it is available; since they do not summon nasties, however, a cockatrice corpse is less likely to be around. Escape items, in particular wands or scrolls of teleportation, are recommended as a back-up plan, in light of their high speed and the fact that they will follow you from level to level if adjacent to you.

As pets

Devas can make very powerful pets. They are very fast, can heal themselves, don't eat, and unlike the most powerful pets (Solars and giant shoggoths), are medium-sized and can thus wear armor and cloaks. This can be particularly useful to a pacifist character, as it is much easier to give devas magic resistance, either with a cloak of magic resistance or gray dragon scale mail. Contrast this to large monsters, which can only gain extrinsic magic resistance by wielding Magicbane. Devas can thus gain immunity to polymorph traps, making them much more reliable pets. Also, an astral deva wearing a fully-enchanted set of armor will have an AC of around −59, about the best achievable for any monster. Still, an astral deva can only reach level 27 without potions of gain level; while it will be powerful and difficult to kill, it still will not engage the tougher monsters in SLASH'EM without conflict.

While useful, devas gained as minions through sacrifice or prayer cannot pick up or use any items other than the ones they start with. In particular, this means that disarming one (perhaps because it is carrying Sunsword) will disarm it permanently, somewhat decreasing its damage potential, and making it unable to attack petrifying monsters at all. However, for lawfuls, it is possible to gain large numbers of these minions, who in combination with a magic whistle can be very useful.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, Devas are the most common type of neutral angel. As with most other angelic monsters, Devas will only be generated in the Planes, or as minions for altars when attempting to convert.

Movanic Deva

0 Movanic Deva (No tile)
Difficulty	14
Attacks	Weapon 2d6 physical, Weapon 4d6 fire, Cast 0d6 quest artifact theft

0 Movanic Deva (No tile)
Difficulty	14
Attacks	Weapon 2d6 physical, Weapon 4d6 fire, Cast 0d6 quest artifact theft
Base level	8
Base experience	212
Speed	12
Base AC	0
Base MR	30
Alignment	0 (neutral)
Frequency (by normal means)	1 (Very rare)
Genocidable	No
Weight	1450
Nutritional value	400
Size	medium
Resistances	cold, sleep, shock, poison, acid, petrification
Resistances conveyed	sleep
A Movanic Deva: can fly. has a head, a couple of arms, and a torso. can see invisible creatures. does not eat. (*) is not a valid polymorphable form. can follow you to other levels. is nasty. is strong. can pick up weapons and food. can be seen through infravision. normally appears in small groups. never leaves a corpse. cannot be tamed.

Monadic Deva

0 Monadic Deva (No tile)
Difficulty	15
Attacks	Weapon 2d8 physical, Weapon 2d8 physical, Gaze attack 4d8 (null)

0 Monadic Deva (No tile)
Difficulty	15
Attacks	Weapon 2d8 physical, Weapon 2d8 physical, Gaze attack 4d8 (null)
Base level	10
Base experience	331
Speed	14
Base AC	−5
Base MR	30
Alignment	0 (neutral)
Frequency (by normal means)	1 (Very rare)
Genocidable	No
Weight	1450
Nutritional value	400
Size	medium
Resistances	fire, cold, sleep, disintegration, shock, poison, acid, petrification, level drain, disease
Resistances conveyed	sleep
A Monadic Deva: can fly. has a head, a couple of arms, and a torso. can see invisible creatures. does not eat. (*) is not a valid polymorphable form. can follow you to other levels. is nasty. is strong. can pick up weapons and food. can be seen through infravision. normally appears in small groups. never leaves a corpse. resists level drain. cannot be tamed.

Astral Deva

0 Astral Deva (No tile)
Difficulty	18
Attacks	Weapon 2d8 physical, Weapon 2d8 physical, Cast 0d6 quest artifact theft

0 Astral Deva (No tile)
Difficulty	18
Attacks	Weapon 2d8 physical, Weapon 2d8 physical, Cast 0d6 quest artifact theft
Base level	12
Base experience	406
Speed	16
Base AC	−9
Base MR	30
Alignment	0 (neutral)
Frequency (by normal means)	1 (Very rare)
Genocidable	No
Weight	1450
Nutritional value	400
Size	medium
Resistances	cold, sleep, shock, poison, acid, petrification
Resistances conveyed	sleep
An Astral Deva: can fly. has a head, a couple of arms, and a torso. can see invisible creatures. does not eat. (*) is not a valid polymorphable form. can follow you to other levels. is nasty. is strong. can pick up weapons and food. can be seen through infravision. normally appears in small groups. never leaves a corpse. cannot be tamed.

Graha Deva

0 Graha Deva (No tile)
Difficulty	22
Attacks	Weapon 3d6 physical, Weapon 3d6 physical, Cast 0d6 quest artifact theft

0 Graha Deva (No tile)
Difficulty	22
Attacks	Weapon 3d6 physical, Weapon 3d6 physical, Cast 0d6 quest artifact theft
Base level	17
Base experience	616
Speed	16
Base AC	−9
Base MR	30
Alignment	0 (neutral)
Frequency (by normal means)	1 (Very rare)
Genocidable	No
Weight	2225
Nutritional value	400
Size	large
Resistances	cold, sleep, shock, poison, acid, petrification
Resistances conveyed	sleep
A Graha Deva: can fly. has a head, a couple of arms, and a torso. can see invisible creatures. does not eat. (*) is not a valid polymorphable form. can follow you to other levels. is nasty. is strong. can pick up weapons and food. can be seen through infravision. never leaves a corpse. cannot be tamed. gives out radius-2 light.

Graha Devas cast a wider variety of spells than is typical.

Surya Deva

0 Surya Deva File:SuryaDevadnh.png
Difficulty	30
Attacks	Weapon 2d8 physical, Weapon 2d8 physical, Gaze attack 5d6 blinding, Arrow 1d1 silver, Cast 0d9 quest artifact theft

0 Surya Deva File:SuryaDevadnh.png
Difficulty	30
Attacks	Weapon 2d8 physical, Weapon 2d8 physical, Gaze attack 5d6 blinding, Arrow 1d1 silver, Cast 0d9 quest artifact theft
Base level	22
Base experience	904
Speed	16
Base AC	−9
Base MR	30
Alignment	0 (neutral)
Frequency (by normal means)	1 (Very rare)
Genocidable	No
Weight	3000
Nutritional value	800
Size	large
Resistances	cold, sleep, shock, poison, acid, petrification
Resistances conveyed	sleep
A Surya Deva: can fly. has a head, a couple of arms, and a torso. can see invisible creatures. does not eat. (*) is not a valid polymorphable form. can follow you to other levels. is nasty. is strong. can pick up weapons and food. can be seen through infravision. never leaves a corpse. gives out light. cannot be tamed.

Surya Devas favor fire pillar and mass cure. In addition, each Surya is paired with a dancing blade, which stays near its Deva and attacks its foe. Killing a Surya Deva also destroys its dancing blade. Destroying a dancing blade directly doesn't hurt the Deva, but the blade will not be replaced.

Dancing blade

' dancing blade (No tile)
Difficulty	26
Attacks	Claw 3d6 physical, Claw 3d6 physical, Claw 3d6 physical, Claw 3d6 physical

' dancing blade (No tile)
Difficulty	26
Attacks	Claw 3d6 physical, Claw 3d6 physical, Claw 3d6 physical, Claw 3d6 physical
Base level	22
Base experience	0
Speed	24
Base AC	−20
Base MR	125
Alignment	0 (neutral)
Frequency (by normal means)	0 (Not randomly generated)
Genocidable	No
Weight	1500
Nutritional value	0
Size	medium
Resistances	fire, cold, sleep, disintegration, shock, poison, acid, petrification, level drain, disease
Resistances conveyed	sleep
A dancing blade: can fly. can survive underwater. does not breathe. cannot pick up items. has no eyes. has no hands. has no limbs. has no head. is mindless. regenerates HP quickly. does not eat. (*) is not a valid polymorphable form. never leaves a corpse. resists death magic. resists level drain. cannot be tamed.

Mahadeva

0 Mahadeva (No tile)
Difficulty	34
Attacks	Deva Arms 2d8 physical, Cast 0d8 (null)

0 Mahadeva (No tile)
Difficulty	34
Attacks	Deva Arms 2d8 physical, Cast 0d8 (null)
Base level	30
Base experience	1391
Speed	18
Base AC	−10
Base MR	90
Alignment	0 (neutral)
Frequency (by normal means)	1 (Very rare)
Genocidable	No
Weight	3000
Nutritional value	400
Size	large
Resistances	fire, cold, sleep, disintegration, shock, poison, acid, petrification, level drain, disease
Resistances conveyed	sleep
A Mahadeva: can fly. has a head, a couple of arms, and a torso. regenerates HP quickly. can see invisible creatures. does not eat. (*) is not a valid polymorphable form. is a lord to its kind. can follow you to other levels. is nasty. is strong. can pick up weapons and food. can pick up magical items. can be seen through infravision. never leaves a corpse. resists level drain. cannot be tamed.

Mahadevas are extremely dangerous to targets with poor AC. Their Deva arms weapon attack repeats until it misses, meaning that it can hit a poorly defended target dozens of times in a single turn. Mahadevas also cast ice storm and arrow rain, which are best resisted by strongly negative AC.

Origin

The devas in this form originate from Dungeons & Dragons. They are devas in Buddhism, Hinduism and new age religions. The new age deva inspired D&D.

The new age devas are spirits or beings that contribute in the functioning of nature. The monadic and astral devas probably refer to devas of the respective monadic and astral planes. The movanic deva origin wasn't found. In D&D, movanic devas are concerned with the mortal world, monadic devas with the ethereal and elemental planes, and astral devas with the astral and outer planes.

The Planetar and Solar are also new age devas.

Encyclopedia entry

Devas are the descendants of plane-touched aasimon. They have
feathery wings that may be vestigial or functional.
Movanic devas are the most frequently seen by mortals. Their
milky skin and slender build distinguishes them from the
dark and muscular monadic devas. The latter are rarely encountered
except in the inner planes. It is said they are able to breathe
elements other than air.
[ adapted from Aasimar, by David Roberts and Brynn ]