Jackal
d jackal 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 1 |
| Attacks | |
| Base level | 0 |
| Base experience | 1 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | 7 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 3 (Rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 300 |
| Nutritional value | 250 |
| Size | Small |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
A jackal:
| |
| Reference | NetHack 5.0.0 - include/monsters.h, line 199 |
A jackal, d, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. The jackal is a small and carnivorous canine animal that can be seen via infravision, and is the most basic member of the canine monster class that a hero will encounter. Werejackals are shapeshifters that can transform into jackal-like forms, and a hero that has lycanthropy from a werejackal can do the same.
A jackal has a single bite attack.
Eating jackals is considered cannibalism for a hero that has lycanthropy from a werejackal.[1][2]
Contents
Generation
Randomly-generated jackals are always created hostile, and may appear in small groups.
Werejackals that call for help and summon hostile monsters have a 6⁄7 chance of generating a jackal per summoned monster[3]—a hero that contracts lycanthropy from a werejackal will both take on the form of a jackal, and can spend 10 power to summon tame jackals with the same odds by using the #monster extended command.
Jackals appear among the random d that are part of the first quest monster class for Samurai and make up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Samurai quest.
Strategy
Jackals can be dangerous for a starting hero due to their speed and tendency to appear in packs, making them a common cause of death for players that are inexperienced or encounter a string of poor rolls in their first several hundred turns: as of May 2026, jackals are ranked number 1 on the nethack.alt.org list of top death causes, above dwarves and even soldier ants. Fortunately, they have very low HP and should not be too greatly feared, and their fresh corpses make decent early meals, especially for roles that lack starting food or are not observing vegetarian conduct.
Most characters have sufficient starting weapons and skill levels to fight off jackals reliably. In terms of the exceptions, Tourists can dispatch them using their bare hands, but should not be afraid to use their darts in a pinch, while Healers can use their healing potions and abilities to stay alive while monitoring hostile monsters' HP with their stethoscope. Heroes fighting jackals in melee should position themselves to avoid being surrounded by other hostiles, and can also funnel a group of jackals through a hall to attack them all at once with a wand or spell.
As werejackals can surround heroes with summoned jackals and other monsters, dealing with them efficiently is key: counterintuitively, this may be easier if the hero is surrounded in a hallway, since damage adds up slower when facing any two of a werejackal and their flunkies at a time, compared to potentially five or six hostiles all at once. In these situations, it is also smart to kill the werejackal as soon as possible so that it cannot summon further hostiles. If the hero contracts lycanthropy and then shifts to jackal form, they can summon jackal pets to use as meat shields or even polymorph into better pets before curing the condition if they so desire.
History
The jackal first appears in Hack 1.21 and Hack for PDP-11, which are based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the initial bestiary for Hack 1.0. In Hack 1.21, the jackal uses the j glyph, while in Hack for PDP-11 and Hack 1.0 it uses the J glyph and retains this glyph all the way up to NetHack 2.3e. NetHack 3.0.0 establishes the canine monster class and moves the jackal to its current glyph at d.
The cannibalism check for eating jackals as a hero with lycanthropy from a werejackal is introduced in NetHack 3.6.1 via commit 1f4574b6.[4][5]
Origin
Jackals are medium-sized canids native to Africa and Eurasia—the word "jackal" has historically been used for many canines of the subtribe Canina, but in modern use it most commonly refers to three species: the closely related black-backed jackal (Lupulella mesomelas) and side-striped jackal (Lupulella adusta) of sub-Saharan Africa, and the golden jackal (Canis aureus) of south-central Europe and Asia.
All jackals are opportunistic omnivores and proficient scavengers, preying on small to medium-sized animals. Their long legs and curved canine teeth are adapted for hunting small mammals, birds, and reptiles, and their large feet and fused leg bones give them a physique well-suited for long-distance running, capable of maintaining speeds of 16 km/h (10 mph) for extended periods of time. Jackals are most active at dawn and dusk, and their most common social unit is a monogamous pair, which defends its territory from other pairs by vigorously chasing intruders and marking landmarks around the territory. The territory may be large enough to hold some young adults, which stay with their parents until they establish their own territories. Jackals may occasionally assemble in small packs when scavenging, but normally hunt either alone or in pairs.
Like foxes and coyotes, jackals are often depicted as clever sorcerers in the myths and legends of their regions. The Bible frequently uses jackals as a literary device to illustrate desolation, loneliness, and abandonment, with reference to its habit of living in the ruins of former cities and other areas abandoned by humans. The jackal of the Indian "Panchatantra" stories is described as wily and wise, while the jackals of Bengali tantrik tradition represent the goddess Kali, who is said to appear as a group of jackals when meat is offered to her. The Serer people's religion and creation myth posits that jackals were among the first animals created by Roog, the Serer supreme deity.
Messages
Variants
NetHack variants based on NetHack 3.4.3 and earlier versions may not count eating jackals them as cannibalism for heroes given lycanthropy by a werejackal like later versions do.
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, jackals do not randomly generate in Gehennom. Eating jackals is not considered cannibalism for a hero with lycanthropy from a werejackal.
Jackals appear among the random d that are part of the second quest monster class for Yeomen and make up 6⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Yeoman quest.
GruntHack
In GruntHack, werejackals can only summon jackals. Eating jackals is not considered cannibalism for a hero with lycanthropy from a werejackal.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, jackals can be summoned by werejackals with the same odds as in NetHack. Eating them also counts as cannibalism for a hero that has lycanthropy from a werejackal.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, eating jackals is not considered cannibalism for a hero with lycanthropy from a werejackal.
Jackals can be warded by a Toustefna stave that is carved into a wooden weapon and placed on the hero's square, and that weapon will also warn of jackals and other canines while wielded.
Jackals appear among the d that make up 1⁄10 of monsters randomly generated in the Windowless Tower branch.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, eating jackals is considered cannibalism for a hero with lycanthropy from a werejackal.
Jackals appear among the random d that are part of the first quest monster class for Infidels and make up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Infidel quest.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, in addition to SLASH'EM details, jackals appear among the random d that are part of the first quest monster class for Ninjas and make up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Ninja quest.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, jackals can randomly generate in Gehennom unlike in SLASH'EM. Eating jackals is considered cannibalism for a hero with lycanthropy from a werejackal.
As in SLASH'EM, jackals appear among the random d that are part of the second quest monster class for Yeomen and make up 6⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Yeoman quest. Jackals also appear among the random d that are part of the first quest monster class for Infidels and make up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Infidel quest, as in EvilHack.
Encyclopedia entry
In Asiatic folktale, jackal provides for the lion; he scares up game, which the lion kills and eats, and receives what is left as reward. In stories from northern India he is sometimes termed "minister to the king," i.e. to the lion. From the legend that he does not kill his own food has arisen the legend of his cowardice. Jackal's heart must never be eaten, for instance, in the belief of peoples indigenous to the regions where the jackal abounds. ... In Hausa folktale, Jackal plays the role of sagacious judge and is called "O Learned One of the Forest." The Bushmen say that Jackal goes around behaving the way he does "because he is Jackal".
